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» 8 . 






UNDER THREE FLAGS IN CUBA 



UNDER THREE FLAGS 
m CUBA 

^ Personal Account of t]^e Cuban Insurrection anti 
^panisi)=^merican War 



BY 



GEORGE CLARKE MUSGRAVE 

AUTHOR OF " TO KUMASSI WITH SCOTT," " WEST AFRICAN 
FETISH," "THE CUBAN INSURRECTION." 



1» 



BOSTON 
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1899 . 



lES RE( 



Offic* of th« 

NOV 071000 

Reglttar of 



Copyright, 1899, 
By Little, Broavn, and Company 




All rights reserved 




'< e«^t "^ c'^ ,«c » , 



<^u 






)^;av T cc;^Y, 






^aiiibcrsitjg Press 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



^-/7/ 



l''^"iS<tJ> 



TO ■ 

M. J. L. 



A SLIGHT TOKEN OF APPRECIATION FOR HER SYMPATHY 

AND MINISTRATION TO ME WHEN SICK 

AND WOUNDED. 



Introduction 

" Undek Two Flags m Cuba " was to have 
been published in the spring of 1898; but. the 
manuscript, together with three hundred pho- 
tographs illustrative of Weyler's regime in 
Cuba, and some historical letters that had 
passed between the Captain-General and Premier 
Canovas, were seized in Havana with my 
effects when I was deported to Spain at the 
beginning of the war. Thus the circulation 
of that work was limited to General Blanco 
and those of his officers who understood Enghsh. 

After witnessing the triumph of the American 
army at Santiago, I prepared the present work, 
" Under Three Flags in Cuba," during a pro- 
longed attack of fever contracted in the cam- 
paign. But again fate, acting now through 
the pistol of an incensed Spanish officer, de- 
layed publication. During my convalescence 
from the wound, a number of books on Cuba 

vii 



Introduction 

were issued from the pens of gifted writers. 
In each work the primary cause of the war 
is omitted, and frequent criticism of the 
Cubans, based entirely on misconception, has 
tended to raise doubts of the justification of 
American intervention in the Island. 

Landing in Cuba, a warm sympathizer with 
Spain, to write upon her military failure for 
a British service organ, and enjoying at vari- 
ous times exceptional opportunity to study the 
question from both a Cuban and Spanish stand- 
point, my heart went out to Cuba in her 
struggle. While I held a commission in the 
Cuban army, stories of my fighting prowess 
that appeared in various Spanish papers were 
absolutely false. When travelling across Cuba, 
my escort was at times involved in skirmishes, 
and participated in larger fights when visiting 
other commands, but I was an observer 
rather than a warrior. I have endeavored 
to write the simple story without bias. 
Thrice a prisoner in the hands of the Span- 
iards, they treated me with a surprising 
consideration; and now that Right has tri- 
umphed and Wrong is overthrown, we can feel 

viii 



Introduction 

sympathy with the humihated nation that, 
blinded by traditional pride and patriotism, 
cloaked and defended the policy of a corrupt 
faction, to its own undoing. But by that 
policy thousands of innocent women and chil- 
dren have been starved to death, and a bloody 
era of history has been achieved. 

On the ashes of a glorious country the United 
States stands as foster-parent to a new nation. 
Russian aggression liberated Bulgaria ; American 
aggression, if you will, freed Cuba. But under 
the present regime, the Cubans have fears of 
the curtailment of the freedom they have given 
their all to achieve. As a people, they are not 
ungrateful ; they do not ask for the Cisalpine 
independence guaranteed at Campo Formio. 
But they have seen motives of patriot hus- 
bands and brothers impugned by descendants 
of Washington's followers, they have been con- 
demned for the effect of environment from 
which they have been lifted. Thus they fear 
that the heterarchy of General Brooke is per- 
manent, and joy at their release from Spain's 
mailed hand is marred by the dread of a rule 
by American bayonets. 

ix 



Introduction 

Thus I venture to hope that a plain story of 
the sufferings and sacrifices of the Cubans for 
their freedom may be of interest. A knowl- 
edge of their struggles will create an appre- 
ciation of their aspirations, and I would that 
an abler pen than mine had pictured them. 

GEOKGE CLARKE MUSGKAVE. 
October 1, 1899. 



Contents 



Pagk 

Introductiox ^"^ 

CHAPTER I 

Landing in Cuba. — The Cause of the Insurrec- 
tion. — Weylerism 1 

CHAPTER II 

Through the Spanish Lines. — The Reconcentra- 
Dos. — Santa Clara. — The Insur-gent Army. — 
Captured and Released -30 

CHAPTER III 

Havana. — The Volunteers. — The Execution ot 
Molina. — General Weyler. — The Raid of 
Mariano 58 

CHAPTER IV 
Evangelina Cisneros - '92 

CHAPTER V 

The Downfall of Weyler. — Failure of Autonomy 
Obvious. — General Blanco. — The De Lome 
Letter. — Spain's Financial Disabilities . . 109 

CHAPTER VI 

A Trip ACROSS Cuba. — Rejection of Autonomy. — 
Crossing the Spanish Lines. — A Devastating 
Column. — A Night of Horror. — The Attack 

on Esperanza 127 

xi 



Contents 

CHAPTER VII 

Page 
The Insurgent Government. — President Maso. — 
His Views of the Situation. — Ministers of 
the Cabinet. —An Offer to Spain .... 157 

CHAPTER VIII 

A Modern Don Quixote. — A Fair Patriot. — 
General Roloff. — An Effective Demonstra- 
tion. — A Horse Thief. — Guaimaro. — A Fright- 
ful Incident. — Colazzo and Hernandez. — Las 
Tunas. — The Enemy. — A Mine. — Ambushed. 

— Garcia at Last , . 17G 

CHAPTER IX 

Pando's Failure. — Garcia's Staff. — Baracoa. — 
Over the Sierras. — A Frightful Storm. — A 
IfiGHT Attack. — Unexpected Supper. — Be- 
fore Santiago. — The Guerilla. — I enter 
the City. — Cienfuegos. — Outrages against 
Britons 206 

CHAPTER X 

The "Maine" Disaster. — The Senatorial Com- 
mission — To Havana again. — Captured and 
Deported to Spain. — AVar Declared. — Recep- 
tion OF THE News in Spain ........ 224 

CHAPTER XI 

Forming the Expedition for Cuba. — The Voyage. 

— Landing in Cuba 253 

CHAPTER XII 

The Fight at Guasimas. — The Enemy Repulsed. 

— Disembarkation at Siboney. — Commissariat 
Short-comings. — Garcia's Arrival. — A Gen- 
eral Advance Ordered 267 

xii 



Contents 

CHAPTER XIII 

Pack 
The Attack begins. — The Artillery Duel. — A 

Eeckless Order. — The Storming of San Juan. 

— Aguadores. — Caney Fallen 287 

CHAPTER XIV 

The Aftermath of San Juan. — The Wounded. — 
The Siege of Santiago. — Horrors of Caney. 

— Capitulation of Toral. — Santiago after 
Surrender. — Close of the Campaign ... 321 

CHAPTER XV 

Santiago after Capitulation. — A Retrospect of 

'99. — Conclusion 354 



xui 



List of Illustrations 



An Insurgent Stronghold in Occidente . Frontispiece 
Colonel Carrera's Guerillas at Sagua . . .Page 40 

With bloodhound used for tracking fugitives. 

Civil Guards shooting Unarmed Suspects cap- 
tured BEYOND THE LiNES, HaVANA, JuNE 13, ^ 

1897 " 75 

From actual photograph of the execution. 

Senorita Cosio y Cisneros "101 

As I first saw her in prison. 

A Flanking Party of Castellanos' Column en- 
gaged WITH Forces of the Cuban Govern- i^- 

MENT AT ESPERANZA , " 155 

From a photograph by a Spanish officer, taken during the en- 
gagement. 

Ex-President Salvador Cisneros, Marquis of 
Santa Lucia; General Gomez, and Gen- 
eral Lacret " 185 

Cuban Cavalry at Las Tunas "197 

A Street in Las Tunas showing Houses de- 
molished BY Colonel Funston's Artillery " 197 

General Garcia and Staff . . ; " 208 

Captain George Clarke Musgrave " 240 

Colonel Theodore Roosevelt "270 

Melgar's Half-Battery of Plasencia's, loading 
at San Juan, July 1, 1898, as the Battle 
opened " 298 "^ 

General Josi^ Toral ..,.." 347 

XV 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 



CHAPTER I 

Landing in Cuba. — The Cause of the Insurrection. — 
Weylerism. 

When we first sighted Cuba, the sun was setting 
in tropical suddenness, like a globe of fire extinguished 
in the sea. The declining rays, scintillating in multi- 
colored beams across the water, revealed a low-lying 
coast, fringed with palms and backed by distant hills. 
Bathed in crimson light, the land appeared a paradise, 
and it seemed impossible that in such magnificent set- 
ting a tragedy of two nations was being enacted, and 
a whole people were writhing in the throes of de- 
spair, oppression, and bloody death. 

In speedy transformation, as the stage limelight is 
shut off to turn the day scene to night, a black veil 
seemed drawn across the heavens, and darkness super- 
vened. A faint sprinkling of stars shone feebly down, 
and then gradually the face of the heavens became 
bespangled with constellations, and the luminous 
beauty of a clear night in the tropics was revealed. 
On the distant coast lights flickered, while blazing 
above the horizon rose the Southern Cross, typical of 
1 1 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the sacred emblem to which the struggling Cubans 
had so long appealed. 

Suddenly a long beam of light quivered across the 
sky and swept to right and left along the coast, and 
we were awakened with a shock to the dangers of our 
enterprise. A Spanish warship was watching for 
filibusters, and we well knew the summary justice 
meted out by Spain to those taken in the act. We 
had left the Florida Keys in the tight little schooner, 
but not as a regular expedition. Ostensibly on a 
fishing-trip, we were carrying a few cases, stores, 
aiid ammunition to Pinar del Rio, where I expected to 
effect a landing. We did not forget the '' Virginius " 
massacre nor the treatment of the "Competitor" crew. 
There was no distinction in those precedents, — sailor 
and Cuban, armed or unarmed, were treated alike, 
and our faces blanched at the thought of capture. 
We sprang to the tell-tale boxes, ready to hurl them 
overboard ; but the cruiser held to her course, the 
blinding glare still searching but never resting on 
our craft, and as the distance widened between us 
we breathed more freely. 

It was eight bells when we drew in near shore and 
prepared to land just west of the Bahia Honda Point. 
Jose, the practico, or guide, was a coal-black negro 
born in slavery in Cuba, *but he had lived years in 
Jamaica, and proudly asserted he was an Englishman. 
As he spoke both languages fairly, and knew western 
Cuba like a book, I gladly reciprocated his assurances 
of friendship and brotherhood, and a true friend did 

2 



Landing in Cuba 

he ultimately prove. He had piloted the ship to a 
nicety, and after the cases had been handed over 
to the gig, we took our seats and rowed silently 
ashore. 

A flash and loud boom to Avestward forced us to ply 
our oars rapidly, and at first we thought the ship Avas 
discovered. Probably it was the night gun from the 
warship in the Bay, for nothing transpired to con- 
firm our fears. We ran into a sandbank and, braving 
sharks, were forced to drop over and haul the boat 
across ; but finally, wet and tired, we had everything 
on shore. The boat returned to the ship, and Jos^ 
and I struck out for the interior, to find a Cuban camp 
and warn the guardia costa of our advent. 

I was in no enviable frame of mind when we 
plunged into the bush. This was a venture of my 
own choosing ; but I had heard stories of these Cuban 
insurgents, — " Negro and half-bred cut- throats, a 
scum gathered for loot, murder, and robbery, under 
the guise of patriotism," said my Spanish friends, — 
and even allowing for their prejudice, I was extremely 
apprehensive. " Would they steal my effects ? How 
would they treat me? Probably my good clothes 
would excite cupidity, and they would hang me as a 
spy to legalize the murder. It had been done in 
Central America, and why not here ? " Such were the 
forebodings that flashed before me that night, for of 
the Cuban question I was absolutely ignorant. Far 
from civilization, in Darkest Africa, I had not been 
aware of a Cuban revolution until reaching the Canary 

3 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Islands. Here I saw weeclj conscripts dragged from 
sunny valleys and driven to the transports for Cuba, 
their arms shipped on separate vessels to prevent mu- 
tiny. Weeping mothers told in awed whispers of 
their boys murdered by these ferocious insurgents, 
whom, in their misled innocence, they believed to be 
fiends incarnate ; and even the kindly old Comman- 
dante of Las Palmas told me such a history of the 
ungrateful colonists that my sympathies were awak- 
ened for Spain. When Canovas, in his leonine power, 
issued his fiat, " last peseta, last man," before he would 
grant reforms to the island, she had shipped an army 
of 200,000 men across the Atlantic. In proud assent 
the Spanish nation continued to expend blood and 
treasure, though the result was as water poured on 
the Sahara. 

After describing the raising and equipment of the 
conscript hordes in Spain, I was asked simultaneously 
by the editors of a London daily and review to outline 
the military situation and method of warfare in Cuba. 
Such a mission guaranteed interest and adventure, 
and finding that under no circumstances could I join 
the Spanish forces in the field, I was now en route for 
the insurgents. I was warned previously that even if 
the rebels did not eat me, — for the ignorant Spaniard 
even credits them with cannibalism,^ — I must expect 

1 In Cuba and Hayti a few of the negroes in the mountains 
keep up the " voodoo " practices of their African ancestors, and a 
society called the " nanigoes " still exists secretly, though it is almost 
stamped out. Murders have been traced to these miscreants, and in 
Hayti, at least, the true fetish medicine of virgin's blood and herbs 

4 



A Rebel Vedette 

no quarter if captured by tlie Imperial troops, so en- 
raged were they against the insurgents and those who 
cast in their lot with them. 

Jose and I marched painfully up a rocky track in 
the darkness, stumbling at every step. From the row 
of forts around Bahia Honda rose the shrill " Alerta ! " 
of successive sentries, a few campfires gleamed fit- 
fully in the distance, and tolls of the cracked bell 
of the little chapel, merry laughter, and the strains 
of a hand-organ in the city were wafted over on the 
still night air. Around us all was silent as death. 

" Alto ! Quien va ? " came the sudden challenge. 

"Cuba!" responded Jose, with alacrity; and in a 
moment two dark figures sprang at him. My revolver 
was out in an instant, but they were only embracing 
my guide and vigorously patting him on the back, a 
mark of deepest affection among the Cubans. The 
two sentinels brought their horses from the field, and 
courteously insisted that 1 should mount, while one 
rode forward to apprise the camp of our arrival and 
send men to the beach for the stores. 

I was loath to rob the soldier of his horse ; but he 
insisted, marching ahead on foot, and cautioning us to 
keep absolute silence. I scrambled into the saddle, 
and we jogged along for perhaps a league, when we 
reached the Cuban outposts. Eound the campfires 
were grouped picturesque-looking bandits, negroes to 

was recently mixed and drunk, a girl being killed for this purpose. 
In Cuba the "nanigoes" were a band of negro ruffians who mur- 
dered for plunder only ; but the stories of cannibalism can be 
traced to this source. 

5 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

a man. By the flickering light they did not look pre- 
possessing, but they greeted me effusivelj^, and gave 
me a palmleaf shelter to sleep under. Being worn 
out, I gladly crawled in, and keeping my revolver 
handy, was soon asleep. 

A hand on my shoulder, a strange voice — the rob- 
bers, I thought. I sprang up only to be blinded by 
brilliant sunlight, to find a ragged asistente had 
brought a cup of delicious coffee, and stood grin- 
ning at my confusion. Jos^ came soon after, and 
said we must be moving, for we were too near the city 
for safety, and I found the outpost had waited an 
hour rather than wake me. The officer, a comman- 
dante or major, was a half-caste named Gonzales, and 
through the medium of Jose, he welcomed me to 
Cuba libre, adding that General Rivera would be glad 
to see me. He was sorry he had no breakfast then to 
offer, but the Spaniards had been very bad there and 
nothing was left in the country. Later, however, we 
would reach a prefectura and perhaps find food. 
He insisted on my keeping my mount, and the owner 
thereof tramped along gayly, telling me he, his house, 
his horse, and his all, were at my service. These 
rebels were certainly interesting fellows, and appre- 
hensions as to my reception soon vanished. 

Crossing lulls and skirting woods, we reached a 
wilder district and finally the insurgent camp. The 
colonel was a black of gigantic proportions, with 
one of the finest faces I have ever seen. His fea- 
tures were small and regular, of the Arab or Houssa 

6 



A True Patriot 

rather than the negro type. He was a veteran of the 
ten years' war, bore numerous wounds, and was one 
of the most trusted officers in the brigade of General 
Ducasse. His manly bearing was impressive, and he 
neither boasted of his prowess nor related horrible 
iiiassacres by the Spaniards that could not be veri- 
fied, — two common failings in west Cuba. 

I had been sitting in camp but a few minutes when 
I was addressed in perfect English, and met my first 
white rebel gentleman. Major Hernandez by name, a 
graduate of an American college and a law student. 
He explained that he was on a commission and had 
stayed in camp for the night. 

Friendships ripen quickly under such circumstances, 
and we were soon exchanging confidences. In half 
an hour I had received some new ideas of the Cuban 
revolution. " Todo mambi negro," laughed my friend, 
"just here and in some other places, yes, but mem- 
bers of the best white families in Cuba are in the 
woods." And as I talked with that young patriot 
who had given up a good home and pleasant sur- 
roundings for a rough life of danger and privation, I 
began to realize there was something in the cause of 
Cuba libre. I had been given to understand that 
no white colonists of repute, no true Cubans were 
engaged in the uprising, that it was simply an ex- 
tensive brigandage, — a western " Francatripa " or 
" Cincearotti." How soon I found it was the whole 
Cuban race writhing and struggling against a fifteenth- 
century system ! 

7 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

The winter campaign of '^ was just closing, and 
the insurgent army of the West was never in a worse 
condition. Antonio Maceo had been killed but a 
few days previously, and the province was flooded 
with guerillas, and soldiers flushed with this success. 
Rivera crossed the Mariel Trocha early in December, 
and was in command near Artemisa, toward which 
Hernandez was going. I was anxious to accompany 
him, but he persuaded me against it, pointing out 
the innumerable dangers and hardships of travelling 
poorly mounted through a district so strongly in- 
vested by the enemy. He advised me to go to a 
certain prefectura in the hills, where I could secure 
a guide and good hoises, and join some force when 
things grew more settled. There were a few Ameri- 
cans in Pinar del Rio, he said, two correspondents, 
and some artillerymen. I met but one, some time 
later, a man named Jones, in the last stages of con- 
sumption ; the correspondents, Scovel and ^ea, had 
gone to visit Gomez. I reluctantly said farewell to 
Hernandez, and later reached the prefectura. 

The prefect was a white man of considerable intel- 
ligence, a guajiro, or farmer. His house had been 
destroyed by Maceo's order, to prevent its conversion 
into a fort, and the Spaniards had looted his cattle ; 
but with true Cuban philosophy he explained that 
boniatos (sweet potatoes) were easy to raise, and 
when Cuba was free all again would be well. His 
residence was now in the hills near La Isabella, a 
mere bohio of clay, thatched with palm. In the deep 

8 



Pinar del Rio 

^gorges below, the Guardia Civil, the local guerilla, 
and sometimes columns operated, but fearing ambus- 
cades, the hilly trails were usually given a wide berth 
by the Spanish regulars. To the west lay the fertile 
valley of La Palma, now simply a blackened desert 
right up to Pinar del Rio City. The valleys to the 
south were in even a worse condition; many resi- 
dences had been destroyed by Maceo, and later Wey- 
ler with his columns had swept the country with fire 
and sword until it was a desert of ashes, the towns 
unfruitful oases. 

I had a sharp attack of fever in the prefect's house, 
and was exceedingly well treated. When, after sev- 
eral days' hospitality, I moved on, he was grossly 
insulted because I offered him money. Many days 
had passed uneventfully in the district. I rode 
around occasionally, but in the valley the columns 
were operating, and guerilla raids took place too close 
to us to be pleasant. I had a narrow escaj)e one day, 
several shots being fired after me by a marauding 
party, and I soon witnessed many phases of the hor- 
rible warfare Spain was waging. No important in- 
surgent force came in our district, only small rebel 
bands; and becoming impatient we finally marched 
across country toward the Trocha, a mule having been 
secured for Jose and my own sorry steed exchanged 
ad vantageo usly . 

After crossing the hills to the once glorious valley 
to the south, Weyler's brutal measures were in evi- 
dence on every side. Following Maceo's death, he 

9 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

had redoubled his efforts to subdue Pinar del liio, 
and each day we came across smouldermg houses, 
rotting carcasses of cattle, wantonly slaughtered, and 
blackened stalks of burnt crops. For miles we rode 
without meeting a living soul ; but later, striking the 
woods again, we found Cuban families camped in the 
thickets, subsisting on roots, and living in constant 
terror of the guerilla. These cut-throats raided and 
looted at pleasure, driving into town the fugitives 
they captured, killing the men and frequently out- 
raging women. 

Raid followed raid, the pacificos, or non-combat- 
ants, being ruthlessly slaughtered if captured too far 
from the town for convenient transportation, or upon 
attempting to escape from the soldiery. Five miles 
from Mariel, not twenty feet from the camino Real 
(Royal highroad), the bodies of two women and four 
men, all killed by the local guerilla, lay for three 
weeks unburied, and probably the remains are there 
yet. In the hills just north of Candelaria I was 
\ shown the ruins of a field hospital, and the charred 

remains of sick men, butchered and burned therein.^ 
Later in the mainroad, near Artemisa, we found the 
body of an aged pacifico, his head split in twain with 
a machete. Sylvester Scovel, who had spent weeks 
in the province before I landed, personally investi- 
gated the cases of over two hundred non-combat- 

1 From this hospital Delgado, a young New Yorker, alone es- 
caped capture, all his sick comrades being butchered. He was 
taken prisoner later, and died from the treatment of his captors 
en route to Havana. His body was claimed by General Lee. 

10 



Atrocities / 

ants murdered by Weyler's orders, in Pinar del Rio. 
This was but a fraction of the atrocities, and from 
the bodies I actually saw, and the cases brought to 
my notice in a regular journey through this district, i 
I have no hesitation in saying that I believe Scovel's : 
investigations to be correct, regardless of the attempts 
of others to impugn his veracity in these reports. 

Exaggerated stories of Spanish atrocities have 
flooded the American press, until responsible persons 
are inclined to doubt the authenticity of every case ' 
reported ; but in those early weeks I saw evidences 
of sickening horrors that turned me from a strong 
sympathizer with Spain to a bitter hater of every- 
thing connected with her brutal rule in Cuba. True, 
I also heard and verified stories of oppression and 
cruelty by individual insurgents in Pinar del Rio, 
notably of one Bermudez, a blackguard given a com- 
mand by Maceo when officers were scarce. ■> He, a 
Cuban, instituted a reign of terror in his district, 
equalled only by Weyler's rule. But Bermudez was 
soon disgraced, and finally hanged by Gomez, while the 
butchers in Spanish uniform were but obeying Weyler's 
implicit orders by the perpetration of outrages. 

A number of desperadoes had joined the insurrec- 
tion for loot, and in the rich West, Gomez and Maceo 
found constant crimes committed by their followers, 
— stealing- from farmers, and other lawless acts that 
terrorized the pacific Cubans. False leaders arose, 
and by carrying on a war of rapine under the guise of 
patriotism, greatly damaged the Cuban cause. These 

11 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

men were dubbed plateados, or plated Cubans; and 
Gomez for many weeks warred only against them, 
hanging some convicted of flagrant outrage. So se- 
vere were the measures instituted by the old leader, 
that men were executed for petty theft, and false 
patriots deserted in dozens. 

Several miscreants in Pinar del Rio, under Bur- 
mudez, and Colonel Murgado, who had also obtained 
a regular commission, were simply brigands. When 
Maceo broke up the gang, most of them reached 
Havana, and re-enlisted in the Spanish guerilla, 
where they could loot at will without the risk of be- 
ing hung. Maceo then put his personal friend, the 
brave young Ducasse, in command of the perturbed 
district, and he gradually won back the confidence of 
the distracted pacificos. 

Another colonel, named Nunez, was deprived of 
command and reduced to asistente rank for exe- 
cuting five Spanish cavalrymen whom he declared 
were caught burning a house. Lieutenant Castillo 
and Prefect Gonzales were shot for looting. These 
severe examples had a very salutary effect upon the 
insurgent army. Gomez claimed that a revolution that 
became a refuge for those who wished conveniently to 
follow criminal and disorderly lives would not be justi- 
fied, even for the cause of liberty. With such in their 
ranks, the Cuban cry, "Viva nuestra bandera sin 
mancha" (Long live our unstained banner), would 
be of none effect. 

The insurgent forces were composed of all classes 
12 



An Historical Retrospect 

and shades of society, — once wealthy planters, farm- 
ers, farm laborers, and ignorant negroes from the 
canefields formed the bulk of the Army of Deliver- 
ance, students from Havana College, clerks, cigar- 
makers, and a tatterdemalion scum from the slums 
adding a considerable contingent from the cities. 
Diverse as were these elements of the revolution, they 
were but local factors in the universal struggle of 
mankind for emancipation from the dominant creed, 
"Might is Right." A glance at Spain's history is 
indeed significant. Once the honored province of 
the Roman Empire, but later a country submerged by 
centuries of barbaric invasion, Spain, by a sudden 
acquisition of wealth and power during the rule of 
Isabella, proudly lifted her head as a united nation. 
She was soon proclaimed supreme mistress of the 
New World. The country became demoralized, and 
was ruled by a shameful tyranny of religion exerted 
for revenue and political ends, a corruption cloaked 
behind the Cross of Christ. Decadence speedily 
supervened. The policy inspired by Borgia and 
Torquemada proved reactive, Portugal and the 
Netherlands threw off the Spanish yoke, the Haps- 
burgs lost the Italian possessions. Wars and losses 
at home followed in quick succession, and the at- 
tempts to stay the tide of misfortune by colonial 
spoliation finally led to the loss of Venezuela in 1810, 
and a spread of the spirit of independence until not 
an inch of territory remained to Spain on the main- 
land of the Western Hemisphere. 

13 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Cuba and Puerto Rico, however, proved loyal, 
despite the constant friction of home-appointed offi- 
cials and the colonials. Early this century, realiz- 
ing the exceptional educational facilities in the United 
States, Cuban parents commenced to send their sons 
to American schools. It soon became a universal 
practice among the better classes, and the rising 
generation drank in the early ideals of the young 
Republic. They returned to criticise their govern- 
ment at home, and in 1828 a Royal decree was issued 
from Madrid ordering all Cubans in American col- 
leges to return forthwith; the parents were heavily 
fined, and foreign education prohibited. But the 
seed of liberty was already sow^n, and many of these 
young students founded reform societies, from the 
chief of which, "The Souls of Bolivar," sprang one 
of the earliest uprisings, and seven subsequent at- 
tempts to throw off Spanish yoke. In late years the 
educational law has not been enforced. 

Cuba in 1837 had been deprived of her right of 
representation in the Cortes, by General Tacon, who, 
as Captain-General, used every means to place an ab- 
solute monopoly, political and mercantile, in the 
hands of Spaniards born in the Peninsula. Thus 
they were able to direct everything to the benefit of 
Spain, diverting a considerable portion of the spoils 
to their own pockets, and completely enslaving the 
colonials, who had naturally supported measures for 
the direction of the revenue to the betterment of their 
Island. Protests of the Cubans against extortion 

14 



An Historical Retrospect 

were unheeded, the powers of the Spanish Captain- 
General were made absolute, and he held his posi- 
tion securely, provided he extracted enough from the 
unhappy country to satisfy the treasury and greedy 
officials in Madrid, and incidentally to fill the pockets^ 
of his chief supporters and himself. Cuba was looked 
upon as a possession to provide cash for the depleted 
treasury, regardless of the Island's development or 
future. 

In 1865 revolution was imminent, and a commis- 
sion of sixteen prominent Cubans went to Madrid 
to recommend reforms to satisfy the people. These 
commissioners were ignored, and next year taxes 
were further increased. Discriminating tariffs di- 
rected all imports through Spanish markets, and by 
'':his monopoly the colonists were forced to pay exor- 
bitantly for the necessaries of life. The prohibitive 
r" uty on foreign flour placed bread beyond the reach 
of ordinary pockets. At the end of '67, a further 
tax was imposed on internal products; disaffection 
then rapidly spread, and the Carlist revolution in the 
Peninsula gave the colonials the looked-for opening 
for organized revolt. 

A wealthy Cuban named Cespedes proclaimed the 
independence of the island on October 10, and twenty 
thousand men rose at once, electing him Presidento 
Seiior Palma, the Marquis of Santa Lucia, and many 
prominent Cubans supported the movement, and the 
eastern half of the island was practically in the hands 
of the rebels, though they were poorly armed. Vic- 

15 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

tory followed victory. Maximo Gomez, a colonial- 
born Spanish colonel, joined the insurgents, and 
General Quesada landed with arms and ammunition. 
Count Valmaseda hurriedly left Havana with the 
Imperial army, but received severe checks and fell 
back; several towns then capitulated to the Cubans. 
Cespedes was betrayed and murdered, but Quesada 
led the army victoriously across Camaguey. Valma- 
seda, finding that he could not suppress the rebellion 
by force of arms, followed Torquemada's Netherland 
policy. He issued a proclamation, ordering no quar- 
ter to be given to any males above fifteen, found 
away from the towns, and instituted the systema- 
tized devastation that subsequently made Weyler 
infamous. 

That revolution lasted ten years. It cost 45,000 
Cuban lives, and saddled the island with an enor- 
mous debt; 60,000 Spanish soldiers were killed, or 
died of fever. Many officials and officers retired to 
S]3ain millionaires, chiefly on the proceeds of thirteeii 
thousand Cuban estates confiscated by the govern-j 
ment and only partially accounted for. There were* 
2927 Cuban prisoners executed; thousands of politi-j 
cal suspects were seized and deported to Africa. The 
island was completely devastated, and the people were 
starving. i 

General Martinez Campos arrived in 1878 with full 
powers to end the revolution, and seeing the failure 
of his brutal predecessors, he made overtures to the 
insurgent leaders, and finally met them for a confer- 

16 



The Zanjon Treaty 

ence. Both Spaniard and Cuban were forced to ad- 
mit the struggle hopeless, and the Cubans agreed 
to submit if certain liberal reforms were granted. 

They finally accepted his terms of peace, which gave 
them a restricted self-government, and the franchise 
so long denied. The treaty was signed at Zanjon in 
February, 1878. When the Cubans had surrendered 
their arms and disbanded, Polaveija succeeded Cam- 
pos. He 'soon instituted a reign of terror, executing 
or deporting a number of the revolutionists. The 
reforms promised by the treaty were never instituted 
save on paper; the power of the Captain- General 
remained, and he could veto evQry proviso at will. 
Discontent was soon rampant, but the resources of 
the Cubans were so depleted that no armed protest 
■v^as made until the abortive revolution of 1885, " The 
short war," when the leaders surrendered to Blanco 
under promise of reform and amnesty, both of which 
were then repudiated by Canovas. This last breach 
of faith destroyed all remnant of trust in Spain. 

Thousands of Cubans, to escape tyranny, found 
homes in the United States. In 1893, one Fraga 
gathered his expatriated countiymen living in New 
York, and founded the Independientes Club; similar 
crganizations were formed throughout the country. 
At this time arose the patriot Marti, who travelled 
from city to city, organizing the Cuban League, 
fistablishing newspapers, and generally advocating an 
active propaganda to liberate the island. Every 
Cuban abroad promised to subscribe weekly to the 
2 17 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

cause in case of revolution. Secretly also prepara- 
tions were made in Cuba. 

In 1894- the Spanish Government was arranging to 
redeem the bonds of the Cuban debt, mortgaging the 
island for $300,000,000 to fill the sadly depleted 
treasury. The European financial magnates, fearing 
revolution might arise, had demanded that self-gov- 
ernment and reforms should be introduced to satisfy 
the people, before the loan was consummated. Min- 
ister Maura advanced a just and liberal scheme of 
self-government for Cuba, that would have insured 
peace. Minister Abarzuza presented a different plan 
of government by a Council of Administration of 
thirty members, one-half to be appointed by Madrid, 
and one-half elected in the island, the Captain-General 
to be president, with power of veto and the casting 
vote. On the face of this scheme the preponderance 
of power lay with Madrid, and with their juggled 
franchise, the Cubans would have had practically ao 
representation, even among the members elected in 
the island. \ 

The colonials were watching affairs closely but 
silently, — it was the crisis. Spain refused the Mau^ra 
reforms and adopted the sham Abarzuza decreels. 
Her duplicity cost her the loan and the island. I 

The news of the rejection of the genuine refornlis 
was cabled to New York. All was ready ther»s\ 
Messengers sailed at once to Cuba; and two vveekU 
later the wily Spanish statesmen — congratulatin^ir 
themselves at the successful hoodwinking of finani- 

18 



The Last Revolution 

ciers without loss of their power over the Cubans — 
were struck dumb with amazement and dismay by 
the news that eastern Cuba was in a blaze of revolt. 
Spanish diplomacy, as usual, had defeated its own 
ends. 

Bartolome Maso, an aged and wealthy planter, 
raised the Cuban flag on his estate near Manzanillo 
on February 24, 1895. Three hundred patriots ral- 
lied round him, and the formal declaration of the 
independence of Cuba was read. His address to his 
followers is worthy of comparison to Garibaldi's 
speech to the remnant of his army in '49. 

" Brother patriots ! You know for what we fight. We 
have tasted the trials and perils of war in the past, and 
must be prepared for even greater sacrifices in the future, — 
famine, thirst, fatigue, and the renunciation of all dearest 
to us, that Cuba may be free. I am old and may not live 
to the end; so let me exhort you — No Surrender! Inde- 
pendence or Death." 

Waving their machetes on high, the Cubans took 
up the cry, " Independencia o Muerte ! Viva Cuba 
Libre ! " and it has been their sworn motto to the end. 

When the Spanish commandante at Manzanillo 
started out to capture Maso's little band, hundreds 
of men seized the best weapons they could find, and 
rallied under the lone-starred banner. Another 
Ouban gentleman, Moncada, also gathered a force, 
a,nd four weeks later Antonio and Jose Maceo, 
(prombet, Cebreco, and twenty-two other veterans of 

19 



Under Three Flags in Cuoa 

the last war landed at Duaba, and joined the party. 
On April 11 Marti and Maximo Gomez crossed 
over safely. Plans were at once formulated, Gomez 
marched to Camaguey, Maceo waited in Santiago 
Province. Both mobilized considerable armies, and 
the revolution started in earnest. 

On May 19 Marti and an aide became divided 
from the Cuban forces during a fight at Dos Bocas. 
In attempting to rejoin Gomez, they were ambushed 
and shot down by the Spaniards. Thus the founder 
of the revolution was among the first to perish in 
upholding it. 

General Santoscildes attempted to head off Maso 
at Bayamo. A terrific engagement ensued, in which 
both sides lost heavily, but, led into a trap by the 
poorly armed Cubans, the Spaniards were routed in 
a fierce machete charge, the insurgents capturing 
many rifles and cartridges. Santoscildes' column 
retired to El Caney, now of historic fame; but the 
tireless Cubans, under Garzon, advancing under cover 
of the darkness, rushed the town and fort, routing 
out the garrison. Flushed with success, they then 
crossed to the Santiago Railroad, and captured a train 
with 250 rifles and 50,000 cartridges, en route to scll- 
diers in San Luis. Thus they obtained their armj?, 
and in July three large expeditions from the United 
States arrived under Sanchez, Roloff, and Rodrigue;^., 
with rifles, cartridges, and stores, that placed the 
insurgents on a formidable footing. Maceo defeated 
Salcedo's heavy columns at Jarahuca; Cuban victc • 

20 



Defeat of Campos 

ries at Los Negros, Cristo, Juraguanas, and El Jobito 
followed. Thoroughly alarmed by the rebel suc- 
cesses, General Martmez Campos was ordered to take 
the field in person by Premier Canovas, who had just 
assumed power. Gathering all available forces, he 
met Maceo at Peralejo, and his partially raw army 
was completely routed. His horse was killed; he 
escaped capture by tumbling into a litter, being car- 
ried off the field with the wounded, which Maceo 
allowed to pass through his lines. General Santo- 
scildes and four hundred and thirty Spaniards were 
left dead on the field. 

By the end of the year, Gomez and Maceo were 
marching west, and on Christmas Eve, Campos, 
defeated again at Coliseo, retired into Havana and 
prepared to defend the capital. His panic was need- 
less, for the Cubans had exhausted their ammuni- 
tion, and were hardly in condition to attack such a 
city; but when the ultra Spaniards, long misled by 
false despatches, awakened to the fact that the rebels 
were camped but ten miles away, and the brave 
Spanish volunteers realized they might have to fight, 
their rage and terror were unbounded, and were vented 
upon Campos. The volunteers mutinied, the Spanish 
party backed them, and on Christmas Day Campos 
cabled his resignation to Madrid to escape forcible 
deposition. 

j Gomez's policy was to wear out Spain by destroy- 
pg her revenue. To accomplish this, he had issued 
?m order prohibiting the grinding of sugar cane. 

21 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Finding it non-effective, and that, while patriotic 
owners abstained, others, especially on plantations 
controlled by foreign capital, had persisted to grind 
under Campos' protection, he applied the torch to the 
sugar crops throughout Matanzas and Havana. His 
orders and methods were harsh, and the wholesale 
destruction excited great indignation among the 
Spaniards and foreign capitalists. It was a hard test 
of patriotism to see one's wealth go up in smoke, but 
I never heard a true Cuban planter complain. They 
greatly regretted the necessity and longed for the 
end. 

This policy caused great distress, but there was no 
starvation, for the laboring class of Cuba live entirely 
on their own products, and the loss of employment 
on the plantations deprived them chiefly of luxuries, 
though many of the proprietors were placed in strait- 
ened circumstances. The method was harsh, if jus- 
tified by the exigencies of the situation. Cuban 
leaders believed " Liberty and all sentiment must be 
suspended temporarily to gain liberty permanently." 
A frequent saying of Gomez was, " What even if the 
whole generation perish, when countless generations 
will benefit so greatly." "Cuba's wealth is the 
cause of her bondage. Destroy that wealth dnd the 
bondage goes," was another of the many original 
aphorisms of the old general. In tacit obedience tc^ 
this, Cuban leaders destroyed their own property tc» 
prevent reversion of the crops to Spain. 

When Gomez felt the planters would respect his 
22 



Arrival of Weyler 

orders to cease grinding, he decided to stay further 
devastation. On January 12, 1896, at the Ingenio 
Mi Rosa near Havana, he issued a general proclama- 
tion, staying the further burning of cane-fields, order- 
ing his forces to respect property, and assuring all 
persons, irrespective of nationality, that they could 
live safely on their lands and cultivate crops as usual. 
But he prohibited the manufacture of sugar to add to 
Spain's revenue. Some planters with strongly forti- 
fied estates continued to grind with impunity. Their 
crops were then destroyed, and in some cases the 
whole factory burned down as a warning. Grinding 
then generally ceased. 

Trade was thus at a standstill; and the enraged 
Spaniards in Havana, who naturally suffered loss of 
spoil, demanded that Premier Canovas should de- 
spatch a man to Cuba who would stamp out the 
rebellion at all costs. Campos had dared to suggest 
that genuine reforms would alone restore peace, but 
to this they would not listen. The .old cry, "No 
quarter," was raised, and to satisfy the frenzy Gen- 
eial Weyler was appointed. 

Valeriano Weyler was but General of Cataluna, but 
he had the reputation of being absolutely unscrupu- 
lous, and was thus the man for Cuba. When he 
arrived in Havana, the intransigeants tendered him 
an effusive welcome, especially the volunteers. Rais- 
ing his effeminate and neatly gloved hand as he har- 
angued the populace, he announced that Spain's 
enemies would find his hand gloved with steel. He 
1 23 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

came to make a pitiless war upon them, and pledged 
himself to speedily restore peace to the island. 

His first policy was to strengthen the Trochas, or 
fortified barricades, — one built across the narrow por- 
tion of the island from Mariel to the south coast, the 
other across Puerto Principe from Jucaro to Moron. 
Thus he hoped to shut Maceo in Pinar del Rio, 
Gomez in the Central provinces, the forces under 
Jose Maceo in the extreme east, and deal with each 
in turn. The Cubans showed their contempt by cut- 
ting their way through the Trochas repeatedly, though 
the barriers certainly hindered easy and frequent 
communication. 

All cities and towns of consequence, and the rail- 
road tracks, were fortified. Reinforcements also 
poured over from Spain, thousands of wretched con- 
scripts being torn from their homes and shipped to 
Cuba. They were equipped with Mauser rifles, the 
most effective extant, and abundant ammunition; but 
the absolute lack of commissary, their cotton uni- 
form and canvas shoes with hemp soles, the igno- 
rance of the officers, and lack of drill, made the vast 
army so hurriedly mobilized, useless for extensile 
operations. It was effective, however, for Wey- 
ler's purpose of devastation, and the disintegrated- 
duty in the thousands of small wooden block-houses 
that surrounded the towns and guarded all the rail- 
ways in the island, with the aid of barbed-wire barri- 
cades built from fort to fort. Weyler soon had 
200,000 so-called regulars in Cuba; 25,000 guerillas 

24 



Weyler's Policy 

were also raised, chiefly from negroes and half-breed 
scum in the cities, and freed criminals with previous 
military experience from Spain. The Spanish volun- 
teer organization throughout the island was 60,000 
strong. This gave a command of at least 285,000 
men. 

It has been easy for writers to criticise Weyler as 
a brutal plunderer, who cared for nothing but blood 
and corruption. Brute he was, corrupt and abso- 
lutely unscrupulous, but he was by no means the 
sensual monster represented. His orders were ex- 
plicit; to crush out the rebellion at, any cost and 
regardless of human sacrifice, and he accomplished 
wonders. His policy was extermination, and he 
neither denied nor cloaked it. His administrative 
ability was stupendous. With inadequate means at 
his disposal, he cut up the island in fortified sec- 
tions, scattered part of his vast army as "beaters in," 
while with the remainder he attempted to kill off the 
hedged-in coveys in succession. He filled his own 
pockets, and those of his officers ; yet gave his vast 
army enough food to keep them alive, subservient, 
and in some semblance of health, when food itself 
was terribly scarce. He planned and effectively car- 
ried out his extermination, murdering hundreds of 
insurgents and their sympathizers in cold blood, and 
starving to death thousands of innocents, whose 
nature and dearest associations had made rebels at 
h^art. But for the marked steadfastness of the 
C/abans, their resolution to accomplish or die, and 
i 25 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the influence of some of their leaders, Weyler could 
have crushed the revolution by force. Eventually 
he would assuredly have crushed it by extermination 
if Spain's finances could have sustained him. 

In October of '96 all plans of campaign were 
formulated, and on the 21st the following order was 
issued from the Governor's Palace, Havana, and 
spread broadcast throughout the country : — 

I, Don Valeriano Weyler Nicolau, Marquis of Ten- 
eriffe, Governor-General, Captain-General of this Island, 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army, hereby order and 
command : — 

1. That all the inhabitants of the country districts, or 
those who reside outside the lines of fortifications of the 
towns, shall within eight days enter such towns occupied 
by the troops. Any individual found beyond the lines at 
the expiration of this period shall be considered a rebel, 
and dealt with as such. 

2. The transport of food from the tow^ns, and the carry- 
ing of food from place to place by sea or land, without a 
signed permit of the authorities, is positively forbidden. 
All who infringe this order will be tried as aiders and 
abettors of the rebellion. 

3. The owners of cattle must drive their herds to the 
towns, or their immediate vicinity, where guard is provided. 

4. The period of eight days will be reckoned in each 
district, from the day of publication of this proclamation 
in the chief town in that district. At its expiration all 
insurgents who present themselves to me will be placed 
under my orders as to residence. If they furnish me with 
news that can be used to advantage against the enemy, it 

26 



Weyler's Policy 

will serve as a recommendation — also the desertion to our 

lines with firearms, and more especially when insurgents 

present themselves in numbers. 

Valeriano Weyler. 
Havana, October 21st, 1896. 

This was the initiation of his policy. Article 1 
stamped the bando as worse than Valmaseda's proc- 
lamation of '69. The latter stipulated that men 
only should be treated as rebels, i.e., shot at sight; 
and the United States loudly protested. In '96 
Weyler brazenly applied the same order universally; 
but the Washington Administration allowed such 
enforcement within seventy-eight miles of America's 
coasts without protest until too late. 

The execution of Weyler's order commenced in 
Pinar del Rio. Immense columns of troops poured 
into the province, and operated in sections, driving 
the people from their homes, and looting and burn- 
ing the houses of high and lowly. When the eight 
days of grace expired, all excesses were tolerated. 
Stock was seized, crops were torn up and destroyed, 
cattle that could not be eaten or conveniently driven 
off were wantonly slaughtered ; even the long grass 
was burned to make the country uninhabitable for 
the rebels. 

Weyler had drawn lines which prevented the easy 
mobilization of the scattered insurgent commands. 
Gomez had returned to Santa Clara, cartridges were 
scarce, and against so large an army Maceo and his 
small force could now only harass the enemy, and 

27 



^\ 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

were powerless to prevent the great devastation. On 
the approach of the soldiers, many of the people fled 
in terror to the Avoods. Here the guerillas distin- 
guished themselves by routing out the fugitives, 
hunting them like wild beasts with dogs (this 1 
have personally witnessed), and frequently forcing 
into their camps such comely women as they could 
capture. If towns were handy, the terrified pacificos 
were bundled in unceremoniously ; if not, the machete 
terribly and effectively cleared the country, though 
better fate a thousand times to be butchered in cold 
blood, and devoured by vultures and wild dogs, than 
to be slowly starved to death in the reconcentra- 
tion quarter of the towns, and the younger women 
forced into degradation. 

When Weyler's fiat was rigidly enforced near the 
Mariel Trocha, consternation fell on tlie inhabitants 
of the other sections of the West. In anticipation of 
a similar visitation, the panic-stricken people hur- 
riedly made their decision. The men foresaw com- 
pulsory service with the Spaniards in the cities, and 
though until then they had no thought of joining 
the rebels, it was now the only alternative. The 
women, children, and old men, carrying their port- 
able possessions, wended their way to the nearest 
township before the soldiers arrived to loot. The 
men gathered their livestock, took what food they 
could, and marched off to the hills to join their in- 
surgent brothers. The order had the same effect 
in Havana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara provinces. 

28 



Pacification 

Within three months it had driven the male strength 
of the island and an abundance of food to the insur- 
gent ranks. 

By Christmas of '96 Pinar del Rio was burned up 
completely, Havana Province was undergoing , the 
same drastic treatment, and Captain-Gent3ral Weyler 
cabled to Madrid that the West was thoroughly paci- 
fied. The rebels had only withdrawn to the moun- 
tains ; and when the Spaniards evacuated one district, 
the Cubans moved in, leaving their base of supplies 
in the hills. Dumped by thousands in small towns, 
v/ith the surrounding country a waste, the herded 
reconcentrados abjectly starved from the first. Wey- 
ler had destroyed their homes and crops, knowing 
full well the inevitable result. 

"This is war," was his naive reply to either ques- 
tion or remonstrance on the subject. 



29 



^\ 



CHAPTER II 

Through the Spanish Lines. — The Reconcentrados. — 
Santa Clara. — The Insurgent Army. — Captured 
AND Released. 

February of '97 was not an eventful month in 
western Cuba, and after witnessing several unim- 
portant skirmishes in which the Cubans invariably 
retreated doggedly, being very short of ammunition 
and overwhelmed by numbers, I decided to try to 
reach Gomez in Santa Clara, where Weyler had 
mobilized his forces for an attempted pacification of 
that province. I hoped to cross the western Trocha, 
not a very formidable obstacle, but at that time 
strongly invested. An arrangement for me to pass 
it through the swamp at Majana failed, and realiz- 
ing that to go eastward I should also have to cross the 
strongly fortified railroad passing from Batabano to 
Havana, I determined rather to secretly enter the 
Spanish lines. 

When camped near Cayajabos, Jos^ was wounded 
in the shoulder, and stayed behind for several days 
in a field hospital there. The surgeon in charge was 
a young Havana medical student, killed a few weeks 
later by the guerillas. With him Senora Valdez, a 
Cuban lady of repute, was sharing all the hardships 

30 



A Narrow Escape 

of life in the manigua to be near her son, then in 
Havana Province. Entirely without drugs, and in 
imminent risk of capture, the hospital was kept up ; 
and many were the inventions prompted by necessity, 
as remedies for the sick. Josh's arm was treated anti- 
septically with plain cigar ash, and he rejoined me 
nearly well. 

Pending arrangements to enter some town on the 
Western Railroad, we were riding along the highway 
to Candelaria, keeping a sharp watch for the enemy, 
when we were suddenly halted from a side road, and 
discovered a detachment of guardia civil, resting by 
the way. Their horses were tethered near, and, but 
for stories of their never-failing machetes, I should 
not have attempted to escape. We turned and urged 
our jaded horses back; three of them sent a volley 
after us, the others mounted and galloped in pur- 
suit. The horses of these men, the ^lite corps of 
Spain, are the best animals in the island, and even 
with our start the race was unequal. Their hoofs 
thundered on the camino close behind us, the thick 
bush and prickly wild pine on either side prevented 
our following the favorite ruse of plunging headlong 
into the thick vegetation and creeping to a place of 
shelter. As I spurred my gallant little beast for- 
ward, I could feel his sides heaving, and knew he 
was on his last legs. Shots whistled by ; so, dragging 
out my revolver, I replied, but without effect. Then 
a bullet crashed through my bridle arm ; I reeled in 
the saddle, and the end seemed near, when loud yells 

31 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

and vivas greeted us. Some of Ducasse's men were 
camped in the chaparral, and taking in the situation 
at a glance, they seized their rifles and sent a few 
shots after the now retreating guards. 

One young officer I met in this camp was Lieut. 
William Molina, a young American Cuban from 
Florida, who had recently arrived on an expedition. 
He was subsequently captured, and when I next saw 
him he was proudly facing the firing squad, as he 
died for Cuba libre. 

General Rius Rivera was then expected in this 
district; but two days before he arrived, I squirmed 
through the Spanish lines at sunrise, and boarded 
a slow freight-train with the connivance of the Cuban 
engineer. Concealed in a car, I passed into the town 
of San Cristobal. A few weeks later came the dis- 
astrous battle of March 27 at Rio Hondo, between 
the sadly depleted forces of Rivera and a large col- 
umn under General Hernandez de Velasco. Hemmed 
in by the Spaniards, and almost without ammunition, 
the Cubans were routed. General Rivera and Colo- 
nel Baccallo were both captured, seriously wounded, 
the latter while bravely trying to save his leader. 
Contrary to usual custom, they were taken alive and 
sent to Havana. General Weyler upbraided the 
humane Velasco for not killing these prisoners on 
the field, to save the complications which ensued. 
Velasco in his previous campaign in Sagua la Grande, 
and in every subsequent action, proved himself a 
brave officer and a gentleman. His duty to Spain 

32 



In the Spanish Lines 

made him war on her enemies, but he warred nobly 
and openly, ever remembering that the people had 
grievances that should be remedied. With a man 
of his calibre as Captain-General, the island of Cuba 
might have retained the sobriquet "Ever faithful" 
to this day. 

I found that I could move through the small cities 
of western Cuba with a greater degree of freedom than 
I had anticipated. Spies dogged one's footsteps on 
every side, and the advent of a stranger aroused the 
suspicion of the petty police inspectors, shabby, down 
at the heel men, of sneaking appearance; but their 
attention amounted to little. To photograph a fort 
meant certain imprisonment; but if I wished to take 
a portion of the Trocha, or any military position, two 
words to the commandante sufficed. The Spanish 
heart is susceptible to flattery. One had but to re- 
quest the pleasure of photographing the brave officer 
and his men; out they would all tumble. Line them 
as you pleased. You not only took the coveted posi- 
tion in face of the smiling sleuth, but you had life in 
the picture, and had won the friendship of the mili- 
tary. Through my camera alone, I obtained intro- 
duction to most of the garrisons, and was a frequent 
guest at various Casinos Espanoles, the exclusive 
Spanish clubs that exist in most towns. Courteous, 
hospitable, and good fellows in their way, were most 
of the officers, and ready to heap attentions on the 
stranger; but beneath the polished veneer they were 
mostly brutes at heart, though I remember many 
3 33 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

exceptions, — fine young subalterns who had come to 
Cuba as patriots to fight for Spain, and were horrified 
with the policy they w^ere forced to uphold. 

The state of the reconcentrados was pitiful in the 
extreme. In every town from one to six thousand 
were herded indiscriminately. They built crazy 
bohios, or huts of stakes and palm-leaf on any waste 
ground available ; frequently several families crowded 
into one shelter. Stone walls and barbed fences 
compassed the town completely, and forts were in- 
tersected at intervals, from which sentries watched 
to see that no one attempted to pass the barrier. 
Within this pen the town existed in isolation, save 
for the advent of the few heavily guarded trains that 
passed between Havana and Pinar del Rio. The 
condition of these people was hopeless from the first, 
and in March of '97 the unavoidable horrors of 
India's famine were being enforced upon a civilized 
people, with worse effect, and without effort to alle- 
viate the suffering. 

The pen fails to describe the scenes in any one of 
these reconcentration settlements, — some thousands 
of women and children, and a few old men, hedged 
in by barbed wire, beyond which none may pass on 
pain of death. Huddled on the bare ground, or at 
the best with a heap of rags for a bed, the delicate 
wives and children of once wealthy farmers and 
planters were herded with negroes who once were 
slaves on their now ruined estates. 

There was an absolute silence in the camps, — a 
34 



The Reconcentrados 

silence bred of cruel despair, and broken occasionally 
by the pitiful wails of children, the frenzied shrieks 
of crazed victims, raving in delirium, or the heart- 
broken sobs of grief-stricken groups mourning over 
the body of some dear one whom kind death had 
released from suffering. Skin-clothed skeletons 
crouched helpless on the bare ground; babies, hide- 
ous mockeries of childhood, Islj dying on the breast 
from which all sustenance had dried, their tiny bodies 
covered with the loathsome skin eruption that at- 
tacked all alike. Girls, still retaining traces of 
beauty, moaning with the pangs of hunger and 
without the clothing demanded by decency, begged 
piteously for relief from the passing stranger, or 
struggled and fought around the swill tubs for 
refuse that pigs would have rejected. They had 
the alternative of another fate; for an abominable 
traffic was carried on openly in mere children, who 
were taken, some through misrepresentation, others 
accepting the fate as inevitable, into houses of ill- 
fame in the large cities, many passing on from 
Havana to Mexico and points in South America. 

Abductions by Spanish officers were not unknown, 
while in Artemisa, but a few days before my ar- 
rival, several orphan girls aged from thirteen to 
fifteen were sold by public auction to the highest 
bidders. 

All these settlements were in a terrible sanitary 
condition. Absolutely no hygienic measures were 
enforced by the authorities, the starving people lived 

35 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

in a horrible state of defilement, and even the bodies 
were frequently left in the sun for days before the 
dead-cart arrived on its rounds to dump the corpses 
in a common grave. Under such conditions disease 
naturally appeared, yellow fever and small-j)ox add- 
ing to the frightful horrors of starvation. If Epami- 
nondas to-day would fail to recognize Thebes, and 
Cicero have little sympathy with modern Rome, we 
can imagine the feelings of Columbus, could he have 
viewed the ruins of his glorious discovery. 

By May, Weyler had extended his "pacification" 
to the great Trocha. The provinces of Pinar del Rio, 
Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, and a portion of 
Puerto Principe were completely devastated, and 
considerably over half a million people rendered 
homeless and starving. 

As I went by rail through these districts, stepping 
off at various places en route for Santa Clara, where 
I was again to join the insurgents, the shocking real- 
ity of the situation was revealed. The feeling of 
powerlessness in face of such human suffering which 
could not be alleviated, made one's heart ache, and 
I shuddered for the future. But as a ray of hope to 
gladden the souls of the perishing innocents, came 
the stories of growing sympathy in the United States. 
It dawned on the stricken people that the great 
country from which they had drawn their ideals of 
liberty might now prove their savior. In the 
darkest hour of their distress they looked to Amer- 
ica. Dr. Shaw, realizing the imperative necessity of 
-- 36 



The Need of Intervention 

action if these people were to be saved, opened his 
columns in setting forth their case. Mr. Bonsai, 
having personally visited the scenes of horror, re- 
turned to use his gifted pen in their behalf. The 
whole Country was aroused. 

The Administration was just changing, but after 
the avowals upon the Cuban question made by the 
Republican platform, some expected the President, 
upon * assuming office, to take instant measures to 
combat the stupendous evil that was only threaten- 
ing when his party pledges were made toward Cuba, 
After the inauguration, however, the tariff question 
had to be settled first. Cuba was shelved, and the 
people starved on, close to the land of plenty. We 
may exclaim that we are not our brother's keeper, 
but had the people of the United States realized one- 
half of the horrors of starvation in Cuba, I am as- 
sured that they would have enforced their ideals of 
liberty, equality, and fraternity at any cost in the 
unhappy island. During the official procrastination 
at Washington the Cuban rural population was be- 
ing exterminated, and the last residue disappeared as 
the late peace negotiations were being enacted. As 
I stood amid the appalling scenes of suffering, I 
must admit there seemed no excuse for the doubts of 
Cuba's need that existed in the United States. It 
was hard to understand why the Administration 
could not ignore both the clamoring jingoes and the 
selfish financiers, and after investigating the condi- 
tions, make a dignified demand of Spain to war only 

37 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

against the rebels and cease the extermination of the 
innocent. It was not a question of favoring either 
Cuban or Spaniard, but of the relief of starving 
women and children, whose condition was a disgrace 
to the boasted civilization of the era. An appeal to 
England, and possibly other powers, to co-operate in 
mitigating the horrors of Cuba, might have achieved 
more at the outset than the subsequent armed 
intervention. 

Certain elements of the American people became 
convulsed over the condition of the Cretans, whom 
St. Paul characterized doubtfully. The half-civilized 
Christians of Crete were oppressed by semi-civilized 
Mohammedans. The powers of Europe stood by to 
see that they had a semblance of justice. Press and 
pulpit in the United States raved at the impotence of 
those powers, but within seventy-eight miles of Amer- 
ica's coasts half a million Christian Cubans were 
being starved through the policy of Christian and 
most Catholic Spain. Truly, it is easier to see . 
the mote in a brother's eye than the beam in our 
own. 

I arrived in Santa Clara soon after Weyler had 
started to pacify that province. By columns of 
smoke by day and of fire by night, the constant 
coming and going of soldiers, the desultory firing, 
and the numbers of pinioned prisoners dragged in, I 
could tell that pacification, so called, was in progress, 
with its incumbent horrors. I crossed the Spanish 
lines safely by night under the nose of the forts at 

38 



The Olayita Massacre 

Isabella cle Sagua, and swimming the Sagua River, 
struck out southeast through one of the worst dis- 
tricts in Cuba. 

Until a few weeks previous, the district east of 
the fortified railroad running from Sagua to Cien- 
fuegos had been practically free Cuba, the people 
living on their farms as in times of peace. Now all 
was changed, and the Imperial columns could be 
traced by the trail of smouldering homesteads, rot- 
ting carcasses of cattle, and frequently the bodies of 
pacificos shot down when trying to escape. 

In this district the famous Olayita massacre had 
taken place some months before. Banderas had 
camped on the Olayita sugar-estate, and was driven 
out by two Spanish columns. The Spaniards then 
accused the planter, a Frenchman, M. Duarte, of 
assisting the rebels, and by order of Colonel Arc he 
was cut to pieces by machetes. The cavalry slaugh- 
tered the inhabitants of the estate, — men, women, and 
children. The young daughter of the overseer threw 
herself on the prostrate body of her father to protect 
him from the cruel blades, and was cut to pieces with 
him, thus escaping a worse fate. Then all the bodies 
were placed in the engine-house, and the factory was 
set on fire. The ingenio was built partly of stone; 
the bodies were thus baked and preserved, and though 
probably the Spaniards have now destroyed the traces 
of their handiwork, the remains were intact a few 
months ago, — a speaking tribute to Spanish rule. 
Camped near Sito Grande, I took to the trees one 
39 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

morning to hide from some approaching cavalry who 
proved to be guerillas. Trembling with fear and 
horror, I managed to secure first a distant photograph 
of the two mutilated bodies bound on horseback, and 
later of a young woman, and two boys tied between 
mounted cut-throats. As they passed in the brilliant 
sunlight, they were silhouetted through a break in 
the trees, and the sharp Zeiss lens of my binocular 
magazine camera snapped two excellent pictures sub- 
sequently seized by the Spaniards. The chief of 
guerilla at Sagua, Colonel Benito Carrera, was a 
Spanish officer of bloodiest repute. His assistants, 
Clavarrietta and Lazo, were second only to him. It 
was their practice to intimidate the Cubans by ex- 
posing the mutilated remains of so-called rebels, ■ — 
almost invariably pacificos, frequently those living by 
permission on outlying sugar-estates. These bodies 
were exhibited to color lying stories of fierce battles 
with the insurgents. Colonel Barker, late United 
States Consul at Sagua, has undeniable proofs of these 
atrocities. I found the district terrorized by Carrera 's 
cruel raids, murders were committed daily, while the 
Spanish comandante of the city allowed him full 
sway in running Cuban sympathizers to earth. In 
my final capture I lost my notes, papers, and pic- 
tures, from this and other parts of Cuba; but as I 
write, two of my photographs of this colonel's crimes 
are before me, — one of these, the body of a negro 
shockingly mutilated, is unfit for publication; the 
other, a young Cuban chained to a tree and used as 

40 



Carrera's Brutality 

a target until shot in a vital spot, was reproduced in 
the London "Graphic." 

Carrera one day accused a woman of being the 
wife of a rebel. Her son, a bright boy of twelve, a 
cripple, answered him sharply, and was cut nearly in 
two by the Spaniard, who shouted " You rebel whelp, 
like father, like son! " Later, to force confession, he 
tore off with pliers the nails from seven fingers of an 
aged Cuban, charged with corresponding with rebels. 
Consul Barker reported these cases to the State 
Department. 

It took little time to clear the pacificos from the 
Sagua district, and the distress among the reconcen- 
trados was appalling, though the edict was only 
enforced there at the close -of the spring campaign 
of '97. 

Gomez was in the neighborhood of Sancti Spiritus. 
Weyler with immense columns had hemmed him in, 
and daily sent confident reports of the impending 
capture of the old chief. It was easy now to under- 
stand the necessity for the insurgent tactics. Gomez 
had split his army into small commands. Robau, 
the Cuban-born son of a wealthy Spaniard, com- 
manded the Sagua district, Miguel Gomez had a 
brigade in Las Villas; Carrillo led the forces near 
Santa Clara City, and in the Cienfuegos zone several 
small bands eked out a perilous existence. Maximo 
Gomez, with only his staff and escort of picked 
troops, about three hundred in all, constantly eluded 
Weyler, though always camping near him, while 

41 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

laborantes in the cities carefully spread stories of his 
mobilization of an immense Cuban army, in prepara- 
tion for a rush west to Havana. The reports misled 
Weyler, whose columns were fired into night and day 
by invisible bands of rebels, frequently only five or 
six men, who would ride through the woods, march- 
ing and countermarching until the Spaniards greatly 
overestimated the force that they could neither locate 
nor engage in open battle. The Cubans often had 
but two cartridges apiece, and despite the bush- 
whacking character of such tactics, Gomez must be 
credited with outgeneralling Weyler at every move. 

I was amazed at the stoical endurance of the 
Cubans, who carried on the war without food or 
resting-place and at such odds. Sneer who may 
at Gomez for not fighting pitched battles, his was 
positively the only warfare possible under the cir- 
cumstances; and Weyler returned to Havana with 
an army decimated by disease and bullets, having 
accomplished nothing save the devastation of the 
province, and the starvation rather of the homeless 
pacificos than the insurgents. Outnumbered twenty 
to one, the rebel tactics inflicted a maximum amount 
of loss upon the enemy with a minimum expenditure 
of force. Even brilliant victories would in the end 
have proved disastrous to the rebels; the ability to 
endure until Spain's vast resources were exhausted 
could alone prove the factor for lasting success. 

Gomez has the qualities and the failings of a great 
man, not least of which is a quick temper. He was 

42 



Story of Maceo's Death 

• 

the terror of evil-doers, and tolerated no laxity of 
discipline. Toward those who served Cuba well and 
faithfully, he was rather a brother than commander. 

The loss of his son Frank, who was killed with 
Maceo, was a terrible blow to the old chief, and his 
younger son told me that since the first-born's death, 
his father, like the English king of old, had never 
been seen to smile. 

The story of Maceo 's betrayal was false. It was 
evoked by Dr. Zertucha's conflicting stories after his 
ignominious surrender. The insurgents in the field 
told me but a few days after the occurrence, that he 
was killed in a regular ambush by the San Quintin 
battalion under Major Cirujeda. Maceo, Frank 
Gomez, and others were shot down trying to cut 
through the line; Maceo fell dead, young Gomez 
was badly wounded. Unable to move, he wrote 
to his father, "I die, but I did not abandon my 
general." 

Then the soldiers swarmed over the field, de- 
spatching the wounded and stripping the bodies. A 
machete blow clave young Gomez's head in two. 
Hearing the firing, Pedrico Diaz hurried forward 
with his force, and the enemy retired, the Cubans 
securing the bodies. Not until the Spaniards divided 
their loot that night, did they discover the identity 
of two of the dead, — Maceo by papers in his clothing, 
Gomez by the F. G. on his linen, and the scrawled 
note to his father found by his side. This account 
does not differ materially from the Spanish official 

43 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

story. They admitted that they stripped the bodies, 
they even produced the farewell note of young Gomez, 
but never attempted to explain how or why they 
despatched him after he had written it. 

Captain, now Colonel, Perez Staple, who carried 
the tidings to General Gomez, told me that it broke 
the old soldier's heart. Staple rode over to the general 
upon Miro's arrival, and at first could not control 
himself to speak. But Gomez' eagle eye divined bad 
news. "Why do 3^ou wait? Am I a woman that 
you fear to tell me ill- tidings ? " he demanded. The 
captain in a faltering voice then told all he knew. 

" Dios mio ! My first-born and my dearest friend 
both! Oh, my poor boy! What will your mother 
say?" exclaimed the old man. He buried his face 
in his hands, his body was convulsed with sobs, and 
he turned in his hammock crying like a child. That 
night he paraded his men, and in broken tones said : 
"My grief is unmanly. I thought I was strong, but I 
am weak as a child. General Antonio and my dear 
boy have only died as any of us may die, doing their 
duty to Cuba ; and before you all I thank God that 
they died bravely. My loss is doubly severe, but it 
is mitigated by that knowledge." Then the tears 
welled from under the gold -rimmed spectacles, and 
ran down the furrowed, weather-beaten cheeks, and 
he turned to his tent, heartbroken. Did space per- 
mit, I could add many stories that show the soft 
heart that beats under the rugged exterior of the old 
warrior. 

44 



Santa Clara 

Food rapidly grew scarce in Santa Clara, espe- 
cially in the North. When the reconcentration was 
enforced, much stock was driven to the rebels, and 
with care might have been sustained by breeding. 
Unfortunately "ventre affam^ n'a point d'oreilles." 
Reason gave way to hunger, cows and calves were 
slaughtered indiscriminately, and meat soon became 
scarce. Numbers of women and children had elected 
rather to be near husbands and brothers than to obey 
Weyler's ukase. Their homes were burnt, and they 
existed miserably in huts in the woods, in mortal 
terror of guerillas. 

One prefect's family I knew in Santa Clara, once 
owners of a large estate, lost two daughters. They 
were pretty girls of thirteen and sixteen, and ven- 
tured early one morning in search of vegetables. 
Prolonged absence caused anxiety, and finally their 
dead bodies were discovered. I saw the remains 
before they were touched. They lay in a field on 
the outskirts of a wood, not a hundred yards from 
the highroad, their basket of vegetables beside them. 
Evidently they were surprised by a passing band, and 
were shot down from the road when trying to escape 
to the woods. This would justify their murder from 
a Spanish point of view. The stricken parents and 
the few neighbors who eked out an existence in the 
manigua divined a worse outrage, however, and as 
such it was reported to General Robau. 

The war was indeed horrible in all its aspects, 
much of it too gruesome to write of. The passive 

45 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

and active cruelties of the Spaniards toward the 
people were indescribable. 

Prefecturas in Las Villas were not always avail- 
able, and guides were scarce. My visit there afforded 
me enough adventure to fill a book, and sufficient 
privations and fever to reduce me to a skeleton and 
make it even chance if I escaped alive. There was 
little real fighting, but constant skirmishing, though 
fierce battles were daily reported by the Spaniards 
which misled credulous correspondents in Havana as 
to true conditions. During February, March, and 
April the insurgent army was greatly disintegrated 
in western and central Cuba, and so continued to the 
end. The eastern veterans of Maceo's invasion had 
been decimated in the severe campaign of '96, but 
hundreds of recruits flocked to the cause in each dis- 
trict. Rivera's capture, as he was reorganizing his 
shattered brigades, proved the futility of attempting 
organized aggression. There were less than two 
thousand armed Cubans in the Pinar del Rio divi- 
sion, about the same number in Havana Province. 

General Rodriguez, who commanded the Sixth 
Army Corps, extended his forces, making small mo- 
bilizations when necessary. Alejandro Rodriguez, 
Diaz, the Ducasse brothers, Lorente, Torres, Delgado, 
Comacho, Varona, Perez, Vidal, Lopez, Campbell, 
Castillo, Acosta, Aranguren, and Arango operated 
with varying forces throughout the divisions of Pinar 
del Rio and Havana. Given food, arms, and ammu- 
nition, a force of ten thousand nien could have been 

46 



Conditions in the West 

mobilized in the West within a week, but the armed 
strength of these brigades has been greatly exag- 
gerated. The above leaders usually had a mere 
handful of men in their immediate commands. With 
these they skirmished or conducted daring raids, 
as the capture of the Regla train by Aranguren, 
and frequent incursions to the fortified suburbs of 
Havana. 

Matanzas being flat and narrow, Weyler had swept 
the province with an unbroken line. The Cubans 
there suffered terrible privations from fire and sword, 
numbers were killed ; and after Lacret went east, the 
revolution almost died out. Dr. Betencourt, a promi- 
nent physician, now civil Governor of the province, 
assumed command during the height of Weyler's 
devastation. By supreme effort he reorganized the 
depleted forces, and to the end sustained a small but 
effective division in the most difficult district in 
Cuba. In Santa Clara the commands in the culti- 
vated sections were precariously maintained, larger 
forces operating in Sancti Spiritus. There were 
about 2500 armados in all. The conditions in the 
East were better; I shall deal with them in a subse- 
quent chapter. In each province there were hun- 
dreds of men existing in the field, collecting food for 
the army, or supporting their families in the woods. 
Armed, this impedimenta would have increased the 
effective strength of the rebels threefold. Unarmed, 
they were still virtually part of the revolution. For 
actual fighting strength a certain percentage must be 

47 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

deducted from the rolls of any army, as detailed for 
duties created by the exigencies of the situation. 

Those writers who have so greatly overestimated 
the armed strength of the Cubans by counting as in- 
surgents all men made rebels officially under Weyler's 
decree by remaining in the field, have not fallen 
into unqualified error. The assertion that fifty thou- 
sand armed Cubans were in the field is ridiculous. 
I estimate that less than sixteen thousand true fight- 
ing men were opposing Weyler's hordes in '97; of 
these less than seven thousand Avere in the four 
western provinces. Only fourteen thousand rifles 
were safely landed in Cuba by filibusters before '98. 
But all the men, armed or unarmed, were equally 
opposed to Spain. The greatest honor to the un- 
armed asistente was promotion to soldier when death 
provided a spare gun ; reversion from soldier to ser- 
vant was the severest punishment in the army. Ere 
the cause of Cuba libre would have been relinquished 
every asistente and pacifico would have passed into 
armed rank and to death; all were inspired by an 
equal patriotism. 

The western half of Santa Clara was covered with 
small towns and centrals, joined by a network of 
fortified railroads, and proved a dangerous zone of 
operations. Each town boasted its local guerilla. 
Armed with Remington carbines, they used brass- 
capped bullets that inflicted wounds which invariably 
proved fatal, gangrene supervening through lack of 
antiseptics in the field. The use of this bullet was a 

48 



Santa Clara 

distinct violation of the rules of the Geneva Congress, 
to which Spain subscribed ; but since the Cubans were 
not recognized belligerents, the laws of war did not 
apply, she argued. The guerilla and heavy columns 
of soldiers marched from place to place continuously, 
and we frequently found the enemy simultaneously 
passing in four directions. In case of a skirmish 
they would all advance toward the firing, making our 
retreat difficult when our ammunition was gone. 

The province contained many sugar estates. The 
factories owned by obstinate planters were blackened 
ruins; other ingenios were surrounded by forts, but 
had their cane destroyed by Cubans. Flaming houses 
and huts, ashes of homesteads, rotting bodies of 
pacificos, and carcasses of cattle, marked the sweep 
of Weyler's columns southward. The rebels pre- 
served the estates of planters who neither attempted 
to grind, nor paid Spanish garrisons for protection, 
and they levied taxes on wealthy property owners. 
Any planter, however, who attempted to obey rebel 
orders was soon marked by the Spaniards, and his 
estate burned secretly. I know of one instance in 
Sagua where two young Scotch planters rather fa- 
vored the Cubans. Again and again their cane or 
other property was destroyed, ostensibly by the in- 
surgents, and they complained bitterly of this ingrati- 
tude to General Robau. He soon convinced them 
that the Spaniards alone were responsible, as his 
orders prohibiting cane burning had been strictly 
enforced, and on an adjoining estate owned by a 
4 4.9 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

notorious Spaniard the cane was left intact. A few 
nights later the rebels equalized matters by giving the 
Spaniard a candela, and his crop went up in smoke. 

My sojourn in Santa Clara was soon brought to a 
close. Passing too near the forts on the Sagua Rail- 
road with a small cavalry escort, we were fired on 
ineffectively. We started to detour, leaving the road 
for open country to pass forts below, when a volley 
was poured in right behind us. A patrol, examining 
the line for dynamite, had waited our approach from 
cover. We turned hastily to gallop to shelter, and 
four more volleys broke out as the soldiers emptied 
their magazines. The bullets passed overhead, mew- 
ing like angry kittens, some unpleasantly close. 
Hastily dismounting, and tying our horses in a 
thicket, we crept back to a sheltering bank and re- 
turned the fire. The Spaniards were barely two 
hundred yards distant, but they held to cover and 
we could see nothing. There were probably twenty 
of them, and we were thirteen all told. 

Perez, the tall mulatto lieutenant, suggested that 
we should mount and give the gringos " al machete ; " 
but we had eaten little for a week, and our men were 
not so brave. We could not break cover and retreat 
without becoming exposed, and the enemy was in 
the same predicament. To make matters worse, the 
rumble of an approaching train told us of new foes. 
It drew up cautiously a short distance away, and the 
armored cars spat fire; but the shots sang high, 
and not even a horse was killed. I admit feeling 

50 



A Skirmish with the Gringols 

apprehensive of the issue; not so the Cubans. The 
practico crept through the long grass and fired shots 
from two directions, crawling back as the enemy 
aimed at the smoke. Then to our front, the light 
blue forms of the patrol could be seen, stooping as 
they made for the shelter of the train. Bang ! bang ! 
went our last cartridges ; the young lieutenant stood 
up for a moment as he ran, then fell on his face. 
His men retreated to the train, taking the body 
of the poor fellow with them. His death I have 
ever lamented, though he had first opened fire 
upon us. 

A muttered exclamation from Perez sent us scurry- 
ing for our horses, regardless of the volleys from the 
cars. Riding toward us on our flank came the cav- 
alry from Esperanza, summoned by signal from the 
forts. When they saw our small party, they spread 
fan-shape as if to overwhelm us. Following the 
guide, we clattered down a narrow trail, rounded a 
hill, and headed for the woods. We had a good start, 
our horses were fresh, and we felt safe as we forded 
a stream and crossed the valley leading to cover; but 
the soldiers had swarmed upon the cars to watch our 
flight, and as we rode into clear view below them, 
pah! pah! pah! rang their Mausers, and the bullets 
spattered round with an angry psit ! As we neared 
the woods, the practico fell over his pommel dead, a 
hot iron ran into my leg, and my horse, galloping 
wildly, staggered, and came down on me with a 
crash. Dazed and stunned, I lay dimly conscious of 

51 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the clatter of hoofs and cries of the enemy as they 
charged down upon us. Then a Cuban trooper, hur- 
riedly dismounting, lifted me in front of a comrade, 
cut the girth of my dead horse with his machete, 
and carried my saddle and effects into the trees. 
Others lifted the practico's body over his saddle, and 
we were soon in the woods safe from pursuit. The 
Cubans gave a derisive yell as the Spaniards drew 
up on the edge of the thicket, fearful of an am- 
buscade. Dodging from tree to tree, Perez emp- 
tied my revolver and a Mauser carbine into their 
ranks, and they soon wheeled about, and rode off 
balked of their prey. 

With my feet stuck out and my spurs pressed 
home, a bullet had struck my shin, gone through my 
calf, and killed my horse^ beside passing through the 
front and side of my heavy riding-boot and a thick 
saddle flap. But with all its penetrative powers, the 
nickel bullet makes a merciful wound ; treated with 
cigar ash, and with only a shirt cuff tied round it 
with grass, mine soon healed save for a fester where 
the tibia was nicked. 

Fever followed the wound, and I found it abso- 
lutely necessary to make an attempt to reach a town 
and obtain food and rest. Three weeks later I 
crawled through the long grass toward the barricade 
at Cruces, waiting by the wires until the Havana 
train arrived at 6 p. M., that the advent of a stranger 
in the town might be attributed to the railway. In 
the manigua I always carried a cloth coat, white 

52 



In the Enemy's Hands 

collar, cravat, and cap in my saddle pack. By don- 
ning these I was de rigueur for the city. Still I was 
unshaven, my hair long, my face cadaverous and 
sunburnt, and Nemesis was following. The grass 
was long near the forts. I crept between them suc- 
cessfully, and squirmed painfully under the barbed 
wire barricade. To escape observation I was forced 
to drag myself along the ground under the lowest 
strands ; the spikes, lacerating my back, inflicted deep 
gashes whose scars will long remain. Only the dread 
of discovery held back my cry of agony, but finally I 
passed the entanglement, creeping on through the 
weeds until I reached the zona. A woman, a 
ragged reconcentrada whom I did not fear, was 
searching for boniatos as I crossed the field. She 
eyed me curiously, and I suppose notified the guards. 
I walked erect toward the freight depot, and saun- 
tered down the railed path to the main street. " Safe 
at last" was the thought that lightened my step. 
Fata obstant! Two guardia civil came clattering 
down the street behind me ; they eyed me a moment, 
then said their officer wished to confer with me. A 
supreme effort for self-control failed obviously. In 
execrable Spanish I muttered that I had not the 
honor of his acquaintance. Then a celador came up 
on foot, panting with exertion. "Senorito, where 
have you come from?" Ere I could frame a reply 
three footguards arrived. I was taken down the rail- 
road track, and tumbled unceremoniously into the 
little stone fort guarding the level crossing which 

53 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

here goes over a deep ditch. I struggled and pro- 
tested at first, but a blow in the ribs quieted me. I 
was thoroughly searched, my British passport scruti- 
nized and returned. Luckily I had nothing incrimi- 
nating but pj tiny rebel pass, which I surreptitiously 
swallowed, and I was soon left in peace. 

A grating admitted air and light, and some large- 
eyed Cuban children stared at the prisoner within. 
Two pretty senoritas happened along, strolling in the 
cool of the day. They gazed up curiously yet 
sympathetically; one said, "Pobre joven." The 
sentry, grinning jocosely, remarked, "Americano! 
Mariana es muerto ! " ^ 

Cheering news, indeed, but I by no means believed 
they would kill me. Captured in the field, death 
was sure; but in the towns people may talk, and 
irregularities with a foreigner cause complications. 
However, the girls believed it; their eyes filled Avith 
tears as they passed on ; evidently they had a rebel 
brother or lover who might one day share the fate. 
It grew dark ; the guards were gambling round a fire 
at the back of the fort and cooking their rancho; I 
stood disconsolate, peering into the gathering dark- 
ness, and shaking at the strongly wrought bars for a 
chance of escape, when some one approached. 

"Hush, Senor, for the love of God! You looked 
hungry! Here is food and wine." I then recog- 
nized one of the sympathetic girls of the afternoon. 
She handed me tiny loaves and a piece of meat. 

1 " An American ! To-morrow he is dead ! " 
54 



A Fair Samaritan 

Some luscious plantains were next pushed through 
the grating ; the bottle of wine would not pass. 

" Leave it ; they will catch you ! " I cried appre- 
hensively. 

'' Drink ! " she replied, as she pushed the neck 
through the bars, tilting the bottle so the liquid 
poured down my parched throat. When I pressed 
the little hand with effusive thanks, she whispered, 
" Todo por Cuba," and was gone. Perhaps it was 
Dutch courage ; but the wine infused new life into my 
trembling limbs, the food also proved delicious after 
my menu of roots and unripe fruit in the manigua. 
I have never been able to trace my little Samaritan. 
God bless her ! If my plight were not so ill as she 
feared, her ministration cheered me none the less. I 
lay on the dirty floor, and forgetting my dangers and 
smarting back, slept soundly. 

The sweet notes of " Diana " from the bugles awoke 
me at daybreak, and a band played before the tumble- 
down Casino as a bedraggled column, that had stayed 
the night in town, re-formed and marched wearily on 
its way. Then the officer of the day arrived to see 
the rebel. 

I fear I gave but a surly nod to his courteous 
" Buenos dias ! " but ignoring my rudeness, he began 
to chat affably enough. He spoke in broken English, 
and we later became good friends. The young Span- 
iard talked wistfully of his home ; then we found 
mutual acquaintances, for he was from the Canary 
Islands, and I even remembered his father's place, — 

55. 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

a large dry-goods store near the Cathedral in Las 
Palmas. Not once did he question me, nor even 
refer to my plight ; and we parted as comrades. 

" Deme las Haves," said my lieutenant's voice, half 
an hour later. Throwing open the door, he added 
perfunctorily : " Aqui tengo un prisionero de guerra ! " 
and ushered in the portly comandante. By the 
latter's cordial greeting, I divined that my friend 
had interceded for me. " You are not a Yankee ; you 
are English, I see ! " said the major, as he glanced at 
my passport. "Now, sir, I ought to keep you till 
my colonel arrives, but there is nothing against you. 
Next time do not take country walks without a per- 
mit. It is not allowed. There is a train for Cien- 
fuegos in ten minutes." I took the train. 

I was thankful for my escape a few days later, 
when the local sheet printed a story of a negro who 
had either deserted or been captured at Esperanza. 
To save himself he made a full confession of all that 
had occurred, and much that had never occurred, in 
the field ; but I was the central figure of his fiction, 
being made responsible also for the death of the un- 
fortunate officer in the skirmish. My entry into 
Cruces he duly reported, but knew nothing of my 
capture and release. Furthermore the paper added 
that this miscreant was El Inglesito who had recently 
been defaming Spain and her brave army. Certain 
articles of mine that would have passed notice in 
New York had created interest in London, where 
the Cuban situation was less known. Some de- 

56 



A Fortunate Escape 

spatches also had been intercepted en route, and Wey- 
ler, ever anxious to stifle news direct from the field, 
had ordered a watch to be set for the writer. For- 
tunately my name was not known, but Cienfuegos 
was not a desirable residence just then ; the coman- 
dante at Cruces might think better of his laxity. I 
needed rest also; so returned to the United States to 
recuperate. 

Feeling secure from recognition, with the loss of 
my hirsute appendages and a change from ragged 
clothes, I entered Havana openly by steamer three 
weeks later, to rest in that city, and witness the 
situation from the Spanish lines. 



57 



CHAPTER III 

Havana. — The Volunteers. — The Execution of Molina. 
— General Weyler. — The Raid of Mariano. 

"He that has not seen Seville has seen no marvel," 
says an Anclalusian proverb that certainly may be 
applied to Havana. The Antillian capital is a cos- 
mopolitan city, in which a striking reproduction of a 
dozen latitudes are merged into a harmonious whole. 
From the approaching vessel a distant view suggests 
an entirely eastern city, but nearer the shore, on the 
west, the white stone and general structure of the 
one modern church, and the rows of buildings back- 
ing San Lazaro beach, resemble Cadiz viewed from 
the sea. Upon entering the harbor, Casa Blanca and 
Regla, nestling upon palm-capped ridges on the east- 
ern side of the bay, transport one m^entally to Las 
Palmas of Grand Canary. Once ashore, the narrow 
streets and multicolored houses around Teniente Rey 
seem a bit of old Seville transplanted. Cross to the 
Prado, the theatres and row of palatial cafes in the 
Central Park, with their orthodox marble tables on 
the sidewalks, and the lounging crowd, are truly 
Parisian. Within a stone's throw, behind the Villa- 
nueva terminus, the great markets and streets of 
clothes-dealers represent East London. The Indian 

58 



Havana City 

Park district resembles Madrid; but just across the 
railroad, the Chinese quarter, with hordes of pig- 
tails, the native theatre and pagoda, opium dens and 
"chop" houses, is truly Celestial, though the African 
consorts of the Mongolians, and the naked Chino- 
Negro offspring, swarming the gutters, are hardly 
congruent thereto. 

Given strong olfactory nerves, penetrate the foetid 
negro quarter, at the head of the bay and near the 
Recogidas. With the slovenly termagants, squalling 
brats, and the languid squalor, it could be mistaken 
for Sierra Leone or Liberia. The occasional black 
swells and their gorgeous "ladies," who arrogantly 
sweep through their fellow "trash," en route for 
cheap ball or promenade, resemble their church-going 
prototypes in civilized Africa. The nightly racket, 
with obscene Congo songs and dances, or the occa- 
sional outrages by the nanigos, both relics of ante- 
slave days in the Dark Continent, could only be 
equalled in Darkest Africa with its fetish dancers, 
Porros, human leopards, or other blood gangs of the 
Lnperri country, or Ashanti. 

The city was ever gay, despite the hideousness of 
the struggle for human existence of the oppressed 
lower classes. The three distinct races of Cuba are 
more strongly marked in the capital than elsewhere. 
First, the Cuban proper, wealthy or once wealthy 
planters, and the professional class — descendants of 
the old, blue-blooded Castilian stock, in whom no- 
blesse oblige is by no means dead. They are refined 

59 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

and highly educated, a number are graduates of 
. American colleges ; and with them the hope of free 
Cuba lies. 

The Spaniard in Cuba is not even typical of his 
race. As in days of yore, Cuba to the poor Span- 
iard at home has been El Dorado. Dazzled with the 
prospect, he emigrated to Cuba by his thousands, at 
an early age. He Avas soon employed, at a small pit- 
tance and board, in one of the innumerable bodegas, 
small groceries that stand in each corner, or in the 
cafds or stores. At seventeen he must serve his 
country; and to escape conscription, he enlisted in 
the Volunteers of Cuba, a body in which no Cuban 
is eligible for service. 

The one thought of the Spaniard was to make 
money and retire to Spain ; he worked hard for six- 
teen hours per day, was frugal, and slept in the cel- 
lar or under the counter. He could seldom write or 
read, and was more or less an ignorant brute from 
his earliest days. Thus the hard-working and com- 
mercial class in the large cities, shop assistants, 
police, waiters, janitors, carters, laborers, boatmen, 
messengers, and stevedores, were all Spaniards. 
Banded together in the Instituto de Voluntarios, 
they formed a strong and armed body politic, — an 
intransigeant party, ignorant and rabid, to whom even 
the Captain-General was subservient. As an abso- 
lute political factor, these volunteers have been the 
great curse to Cuba. There were thirty thousand in 
Havana, sixty thousand in the island. 

60 



Spain's Proscriptive Policy 

What cared the Spaniard for the future of Cuba ? 
To secure all the riches possible, and to return to 
Spain, was his aim in life ; and to this end the Span- 
ish party, from Captain -General down, strenuously 
upheld the proscriptive policy that meant dollars for 
the moment, but disaster eventually. 

One instance: just before the war, London specu- 
lators were negotiating for the construction of a rail- 
way across Puerto Principe, with great additional 
projections to join Santa Clara and Santiago. An 
immense wave of prosperity to eastern Cuba would 
have followed, but the road would take time to build, 
and the officials then in power might not have re- 
mained to benefit by its completion. They com- 
menced extortion at once. First an utterly ridiculous 
valuation was clapped on the land over and above the 
price first asked by the owners, an almost prohibitive 
tariff was imposed on all imported materials, taxation 
on every pretext was in course of evolution, and the 
promoters threw up the scheme in disgust. Thus for 
the sake of a few paltry thousands for the pockets 
of rapacious officials, the great eastern provinces of 
Cuba are undeveloped to this day, and millions of 
capital shut out. These sections instead yield the 
few dollars squeezed annually from the miserable 
squatters who alone occupy the glorious valleys. 
The immense mining resources of Santiago are un- 
developed for a similar reason. 

By a simple system of political jugglery the Span- 
ish party retained absolute control of the government, 

61 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

internal and municipal. In large cities Peninsulars 
owned much property, and might have been expected 
to control the franchise ; but in the typically Cuban 
town of Guines, only 500 Spanish-born residents are 
registered, out of 12,580 Cuban inhabitants. Yet 
the electoral list contained the names of 415 Span- 
iards and but 32 Cubans, and even on the Municipal 
Board there was not a single Cuban member. Guines 
examples the whole. 

During the past twenty years the province of 
Matanzas has had twenty governors; eighteen of 
these were born in Spain, two only were Cubans, — 
one. General Acosta, had served all his life in the 
Spanish army, and fought against his own people; 
the other, Senor Munoz, was educated in Spain, and 
a rabid conservative. In the Spanish Cortes, usually 
three, never more than six, deputies represented Cuba 
out of the four hundred and thirty members. Their 
representation in the Senate was even more easily 
restricted. A crown minister, bishop, grandee of 
Spain, a general, vice-admiral, ambassador, counsel- 
lor of state, judge, or attorney-general was eligible. 
There are but three Cuban grandees, and no Cuban 
had a chance to fill the other positions, so the above 
qualifications were practically prohibitive. This re- 
stricted their senatorial representation to professors 
of over four years' presidency in a university, those 
who paid over S800 annually in taxes, or mayors 
of cities of over 20,000 population. No one else 
was eligible. It was therefore possible, rather than 

62 



Official Defalcations 

probable, for a true Cuban to enter the Upper 
House. 

Obnoxious tariffs were permanent, for tlie Custom 
House proved an easy means for corrupt officials to 
rob the government of millions by fraudulent entry. 
In Cuba compromise was always possible. All offi- 
cials had to purchase appointments that paid a 
meagre salary but with unlimited perquisites. 

Fraud was incumbent on the whole political sys- 
tem. Its existence was known and tolerated in 
Madrid. Senor Robleclo, speaking of defalcations in 
certain accounts in Havana, asked the government 
what had been done to recover one proven deficit of 
$32,811,516. General Pando, speaking in the Cortes 
in March 22, 1890, said: "This liquidation of estates 
confiscated in Cuba during the war shows a deficit 
of $14,000,000, the defalcations of the Board of Debt 
are over $12,000,000, and in addition to the Oteiza 
frauds and other items, we have a grand total of 
$40,000,000 shortage." Pando complained of the 
wrongful diversion of money from the Spanish treas- 
ury; but these vast sums are only a part of the 
amount drawn from Cuba by corrupt officials, who 
have spared no effort to extort sufficient to satisfy 
themselves and their superiors in Madrid. All the 
frauds were but part of the huge political game, and 
were perpetrated without risk of punishment. 

The deferential duties also forced the colonists to 
pay an exorbitant price for goods from Spain, or sub- 
mit to 100 per cent ad valorem duty on imports from 

63 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

other countries. During the depression in the sugar 
market after the '68 war, many wealthy planters 
closed down their ingenios, being unable to replenish 
their grinding plant by reason of the tariff on the 
machinery which Spain herself could not furnish 
and had no reason to protect. Needless to add, 
under such proscriptive policy even the riches of 
Cuba had dwindled, and were speedily becoming ex- 
hausted. During the twelve years prior to the late 
war the exports of both sugar and tobacco, staple 
products, decreased to less than one-half their former 
value. Spain and Spain's alike suffered from national 
decadence, that moral debility and social corruption, 
called by Aristotle oliganthropy, that has destroyed 
great ancient powers, and which is slowly but surely 
menacing the very national existence of the Latin to- 
day as a factor in the world's development. 

Many of the Spanish emigrants rose to become 
property owners, and obtained official positions in 
spite of illiteracy. They were distinctly ambitious, 
and some of the social functions of the wealthy were 
ridiculous, the pompous but ignorant "Four Hun- 
dred" aping a patronizing air of superiority which 
could not cloak the blatant vulgarity exuding from 
every pore. 

Everything Spanish centred around the loyal In- 
stituto, the members of which have placed themselves 
beyond the pale of civilization by certain acts, which 
probably culminated in the "Maine" outrage. In 
May of 1870 the volunteers raided the Villanueva 

64 



Murder of the Students 

theatre, where an exclusive Cuban opera, was in 
progress, and poured volleys indiscriminately into 
the audience, killing many women and children. 
Captain-General Dulce, who had the temerity to 
attempt to arrest the culprits, was driven to a war- 
ship by a tipsy mob and forced to retire to Spain. 
Two years later, scratches were discovered on the 
tomb of Colonel Castenon, a volunteer killed in a 
duel with Orasco, the Cuban writer. Suspicion fell 
on some medical students of the Havana college, 
a Cuban institution; the whole medical class was 
arrested by General Clavyjo, and released when their 
innocence was proven. Enraged at the acquittal, the 
volunteers seized the innocent lads ; they were tried 
by illegal drum-head court-martial, and since none 
would confess the crime, all were sentenced to death. 
One-fourth of their number was selected for instant 
execution ; these were shot down on the Prado in cold 
blood by the citizen soldiers. Among the dead were 
four lads of fifteen. Sentences on the remainder 
were magnanimously commuted to imprisonment for 
life. Later Castenon's son arrived from Spain and 
testified that the scratches were made by masons in 
fixing the tomb; the students were innocent. A 
magnificent monument to-day marks the grave of the 
young Cuban martyrs. Built of pure Carrara marble, 
weeping Justice stands above with broken sword and 
distorted scales. History, at her side, points to the 
open doors of corruption through which an exquisitely 
chiselled figure of Innocence is emerging with Truth. 
5 65 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

On the anniversary, November 27, '97, despite the 
threats of the volunteers to destroy the tomb, the 
families of the boys went to lay flowers on the grave. 
Their grief had been assuaged by time, but mothers 
and sisters still wept silently, and I could not fail to 
notice only old men in the party paying tribute to the 
martyrs of Spanish infamy. The younger male rela- 
tives of these, the most prominent Havana families, 
were away, fighting to free their country from the 
grip of their brothers' murderers. 

Early in the war an aged planter, sitting under the 
portals of the Tacon caf^, talked earnestly to a 
friend. The waiter, a volunteer, overhearing the 
words "Cuba libre," denounced him as a rebel, and 
armed loyalists shot him in the back as he rose, as- 
tounded at the accusation. General Campos in '95 
refused to execute insurgent prisoners and estranged 
the Instituto. After his failure to check Gomez, in- 
stead of the volunteers offering their services to help 
the hardly pressed troops, they paraded round the 
palace, swearing to hang Campos, and at daybreak 
he resigned and retired. Weyler was a man after 
their own heart. 

One beautiful morning early in June, I Avas aroused 
by an unusual excitement on the Prado where the 
volunteers were assembling for early parade. It was 
barely 6.30, but already crowds of uniformed men 
had gathered in excited groups near my hotel, and 
I soon learned that one of their number, Fernandez, 

66 • 



The Execution of Molina 

who had killed his captain in an unseemly quarrel 
over a woman, had been sentenced to be shot next 
day. Greatly enraged were the redoubtable patriots 
that one of the loyal Instituto should be forced to 
pay the penalty of his crime, and wild talk was in- 
dulged in ; but after recording a protest, they went to 
duty quietly and waited for the morrow. 

"LaLucha," Weyler's official organ, that afternoon 
announced the execution without comment, and added 
that William Molina, a rebel lieutenant of Pinar del 
Rio, would also be shot for the crime of incendiarism. 
A few weeks previously General Weyler had received 
instructions from Madrid to withhold the extreme 
penalty for rebellion. The incessant executions were 
arousing notice in Europe, and I learned also, on 
excellent authority, that the Queen of Spain had for 
once been able to influence her iron-willed mentor, 
Canovas, whose brutal procedure was by no means 
her Majesty's. The Captain General was ordered to 
follow a conciliatory policy in the " conquered " West, 
with the view of inspiring the " defeated " insurgents 
with confidence and inducing their surrender. Wey- 
ler, who knew the absolute falsity of his successive 
reports, realized the futility of conciliation, but from 
that day forth, every insurgent who surrendered or 
was captured, unless it were expedient to execute 
him secretly, was court-martialled for rebellion and 
incendiarism, formally acquitted on the former charge, 
and sentenced to death on the latter. Thus Molina 
was to die for incendiarism. 

67 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

It is obvious that he was selected to die as a mere 
stage effect to offset the execution of the volunteer. 
When I met Molina in Pinar del Rio in February, he 
had but recently landed ; he was captured soon after- 
wards, sick and travel-worn, by the humane General 
Velasco. His leader, General Rivera, and a dozen 
other high Cuban officers were confined at the time ; 
but he was the least known, if the least guilty, and 
could be killed without foreign comment. There 
was no attempt made to specify charges; as in all 
cases, the court-martial was a farce, lasting as many 
seconds as it took the officers of the court to affix 
their signatures to the charge sheet. There was no 
true charge against Molina beyond his presence in 
the field, and he was entirely unprepared for his fate 
when he was told to prepare for the chapel where the 
condemned spend their last hours on earth. He was 
completely dazed, but wrote a short farewell to his 
widowed mother and sisters in Florida, in which he 
deplored that they would now have no protector, but 
that they must remember he died for Cuba. The 
kind-hearted officer of the death guard promised to, 
and did forward the letter, and a few trinkets, in- 
cluding the silken scapular that he wore to the last, 
the handiwork of his sister before he left for the war. 

At daybreak next morning I crossed the foetid 
cesspool from Havana to La Cabana, and without 
molestation passed with a group of officers down 
the slope to the death-ditch, Los Laureles. 

It was a glorious morning, and below the heights 
68 



Scene at La Cabana 

of the fortress lay the city, white and glistening in 
the sunlight. The bells of the churches called to 
early mass ; their discordant tones, softened by dis- 
tance, mingling with the resonant swells of the organ 
and voices of the choir that were wafted across the 
bay from the cathedral. Beyond the ramparts a vast 
crowd had gathered, jostling and cursing in their 
attempt to gain a point of vantage where they could 
look over the heads of the guard. On several occa- 
sions I have stood with barely half-a-dozen people at the 
bi-weekly executions ; the shooting of a " rebel dog" 
was far too common to attract or interest. But the 
death of a Spanish volunteer was a different matter. 
Some hundreds of his comrades had their arms, and 
were muttering ominously in the Fosso; the general 
crowd also were volunteers in mufti or their friends, 
and trouble seemed imminent. The hour had passed, 
and the mob yelled for the mambi ; but not until an- 
other battalion had been marched from El Morro to 
reinforce the guard did the tragedy begin. 

The preliminary thump of the drum was the signal 
for absolute silence, the silence of excessive anticipa- 
tion. Then the band joyously blared the inspiring 
strains of "El Tambor Mayor," and the regiment of 
Cazadores marched blithely across the parade and 
formed three sides of a square, facing the musty wall 
of the fortress. The comandante and staff of the 
fort, smoking cigarettes and chatting gaily, sauntered 
into the centre; the band stopped suddenly. Put- 
ting into his instrument the pathos possible only to 

69 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

an emotional Latin, the trumpeter sounded a pitiful 
silenciOf and the postern was thrown back. 

First came the lay brothers, negroes in black 
gowns, capouches, and dirty lace capes, bearing 
cracked lanterns, and a cross rusty with age and 
use; then the guard, with fixed bayonets, and the 
tightly pinioned prisoner supported by the shambling 
prison priest in a faded robe. 

Closely and with sad heart I watched the face of 
tlie condemned, worn and emaciated from long con- 
finement in a dark dungeon; the sunlight blinded 
him, and it was painfully apparent that all hope had 
been crushed from the young officer by his captivity ; 
that he was meeting death as one for whom life had 
long ceased to be of pleasure or value. Then came 
the frightful awakening. The open air, the sun- 
light, the birds singing in the laurel trees; the 
sight of the glorious country; the sparkling bay be- 
low, in which he had bathed as a boy, before political 
oppression drove his family to exile ; the tolling bell 
of the cathedral in which he had worshipped; the 
hum of the busy city awakening for the day, — all this 
caused a sudden revulsion, awakened a desire to live, 
to taste freedom once again and breathe God's pure 
air. The change was apparent to all; the listless 
attitude was gone in an instant. Life is precious at 
nineteen, and the poor fellow suddenly realized what 
he was losing. 

While the priests were chanting, the fanatical 
crowd held their peace, for the Spaniard is igno- 

70 



The Death Scene 

rantly superstitious of the Church. But when Mo- 
lina, awakening to his position, faltered, reeled back, 
and stopped undecided, "Cuban dog!" "Nanigo!" 
"Death to the mothers that bear such offspring!" 
"Life to Weyler and Spain!" rang from all sides, 
and some of these noble Spaniards mingled " Cow- 
ard! " with other vile epithets. A few humane per- 
sons expostulated ; an aged Cuban near me had the 
temerity to pray audibly ; but the effect of the uproar 
was electrical upon the prisoner. 

He straightened up. His mother and his country 
were insulted; his pride of race was touched. 
With shoulders back and head erect, he stepped 
firmly into the square, his eyes blazing with indig- 
nation. He glanced contemptuously at the crowd. 
He listened to the priest, a little impatiently I 
thought, and as he was roughly dragged forward, 
he shook himself free and knelt on the ready sanded 
strip. A sergeant and four men formed three feet 
behind him. They levelled their rifles; the triggers 
clicked ominously. Molina braced himself for the 
shock, and waited in suspense. Then in refined 
and unintentional cruelty the crisis was delayed 
while a negro lay brother came leisurely across the 
parade with the cross for the condemned to kiss. 
Perfunctorily he applied his lips to the sacred em- 
blem ; again he prepared for the volley. But a further 
delay followed, during which his tried fortitude al- 
most forsook him ; the young body was shaking with 
convulsive trembhng. But at last the sergeant held 

71 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

his sword in the air; the squad were taking aim. 
With a flash the sword fell; the volley rattled out. 
The young martyr was dead. 

The band burst into the Cadiz march, but stopped 
after a few bars, and the renewed execrations died 
away when the mangled body was dragged off, and 
fresh sand spread over the bloody tracks; the great 
event was yet to come. Again the postern opened, 
and the death procession hove in sight. Trembling 
in every limb, the murderer Fernandez was led forth, 
held up by two priests. As he reached the square 
there were shouts of recognition from all sides, which 
the homicide was too frightened to heed. Loud mur- 
murs and protests arose, and dispensing with all 
preliminaries, I supposed to get the execution over 
before a riot arose, the comandante jerked Fernan- 
dez into position, and the firing squad stepped out. 
A loud chorus of "No! No!" arose from all sides; the 
volunteers shouted, howled, and gesticulated; a res- 
cue seemed imminent. I saw the officers suppress a 
smile with difficulty. Then the postern swung back 
again, an aide dashed into the square, shouting, 
"Alto!" and waving a blue paper. 

The squad fell back promptly; if the farce had 
not had previous rehearsal, at least the actors were 
perfect in their parts. The comandante then an- 
nounced that in view of the loyal services rendered 
by the volunteers in the past, General Weyler had 
craved and received the Queen's pardon for Fernan- 
dez, that no slur might rest upon the honorable name 

72 



The Death of Hchevarri 

of the loyal Inscituto. A roar of exultation went 
heavenward in reply. Fernandez arose dazed, and 
with yells of " Viva Weyler ! " " Vivan los Volunta- 
rios!" "Viva Espana!" the volunteers danced in 
their delirious joy. 

" Thank God that first poor boy died so bravely ! " 
said a voice in roy ear, and turning, I found a young 
lieutenant of artillery who had read my feelings in 
my face. Then with an angry " Get to your pigsties 
before you grunt, swine!" he flung some gesticulat- 
ing soldiers aside, and strode away: one Spaniard 
ashamed of his race. 

Executions were frequent throughout Weyler's 
regime, and every week if there were no shooting 
there was the garotte, and the local verdugo reaped 
a rich harvest. Two weeks after Molina's death, the 
aged patriot Hchevarri was shot in the back like a 
dog. The execution was soon over, and I stood on 
the steps at La Punta as the body was brought across 
the bay for burial. A gray-haired Cuban lady knelt 
with her daughters over the rough box, the wife 
dry-eyed and silent, the sweet-faced girls weeping 
bitterly; but they were refused permission even to 
possess the remains after death. Soon the lumbering 
deadcart drew up. " Come, Widow, ' vende listas ' 
to a loyal man next time ! " shouted the brutal ser- 
geant; the soldiers pulled the coffin from the recum- 
bent women, and tilting it roughly, pushed it over 
the stone balustrade. This caused the blood to rush 
to one end, and pour through the badly fitting joints, 

73 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

splashing over the kneeling forms on the steps, and 
making a pool on the ground that the brave man 
had given his life to free. The soldiers drew their 
machetes and dipped the points in gore; "to warm 
the soul," as the guerillas say. 

Mrs. Hchevarri died broken-hearted a few weeks 
later ; the fate of her unfortunate daughters, who were 
left penniless, I have never heard. 

Beside the public executions, secret official murders 
frequently took place. Prominent Cubans of revo- 
lutionary sympathies were taken outside the lines at 
night and shot. Their bodies were then brought in 
and buried without recognition, as insurgents killed 
in battle. 

Colonel La Barerra, the infamous chief of police 
in Havana, had a complete system of espionage, and 
swayed his power rather to blackmail than to stamp 
out the revolution. I could fill pages with revolting 
details of cases that came under my personal notice, 
of murder and outrage perpetrated by this blackguard 
and his assistants Escalante, Pratts, Prinn, and other 
satellites. They blackmailed with impunity under 
threat of exile, and to intimidate others they de- 
ported many innocent people, who were finally par- 
doned by General Blanco. Their dupes were forced 
to play the spy, and, as in the case of Beato, who 
betrayed Mrs. Sotolongo, were hung when their use- 
fulness was over and their knowledge dangerous. 

A young Cuban friend of mine named Arisa and 
his companion Posada came under Barerra's ban, and 

74 




r- 00 

Q 

X 
< 

o 
o 



An Official Murder 

were murdered in cold blood on the niglit of August 
13, '97. Arisa was the son of a sugar-exporter; 
Posada, the son of the Consul-General of Portugal. 
During the summer they visited friends, expatriated 
Cubans, in Mexico. On their return they were 
arrested, but released. We sat that night in the 
annex of the Inglaterra hotel, joking at their experi- 
ence, and discussing the coming fiesta at the Vedado. 
We broke up at a late hour, and next day I learned 
that Arisa and Posada had disappeared. Their 
friends feared the worst, and while aiding in the 
search, my assistant Garcia learned that they had 
been arrested as they left the hotel, thrust into a 
coach in Central Park, and driven rapidly away. 

Senor Diego, a stock-broker in the Casa Nueva, 
had told me that day of cries for help, and shots 
near his house in Tulipan during the night, and of 
a waiting deadcart in El Cerro driving rapidly away. 
" El Diario" also mentioned the arrival in the Colon 
morgue of two bodies of rebels shot crossing the 
lines. The coincidence seemed suspicious, and since 
the municipal doctor was an acquaintance of mine, I 
drove over and asked for a permit to view the dead 
insurgents. "They are interred already," he stated, 
"buried at daybreak by order," adding, sotto voce, 
"The rebels are wearing patent boots, silk vests, 
and white shirts, it seems; at least, these were. 
They were no insurgents ! " He would say no more, 
for "still tongue, safe neck" was a good Havana 
maxim; but our suspicions were fully confirmed 

75 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

when the cemetery morgue-keeper openly sold the 
clothes of the missing men as his perquisite. 

The relatives obtained no redress until General 
Blanco's arrival, when the bodies were exhumed and 
recognized. The miscreant police-officers had then 
sailed for Spain, save Colonel Escalante, who was 
suspended from office. Angered at my share in 
this and other exposures, Escalante and some of his 
gang swore to kill me. Twice I was waylaid at 
their instigation, but escaped scatheless. Following 
the discovery of a huge dynamite bomb at the Amer- 
ican Consulate on November 26th, a small bomb in a 
sugar-cane sample case was delivered with my news- 
papers. I threw the package to the janitor to open 
for me. He carelessly split the lid instead of with- 
drawing it, thereby disarranging a clever fuse attach- 
ment that otherwise would have ignited and blown 
us to atoms. Escalante was implicated in these out- 
rages, and finally dismissed by General Blanco. 

Hatred to Spain seemed to be imbibed in the air 
of Cuba, and Cuban-born sons of Spaniards proved 
invariably rebels, especially when born of Cuban 
mothers. "Take a Cuban wife for a rebel son," was 
a pertinent Spanish aphorism, and the revolution 
caused houses to be divided, son against father, the 
mother and daughters usually siding with the son. 
The colonials were persecuted terribly under Wey- 
ler's reign of terror, since they all had some relative 
with the insurgents, and in consequence were rated 

76 



The Cuban Inquisition 

as "suspects" against whom any outrage would be 
tolerated. 

Famous desperadoes, as Alcade Maury and Colonel 
Fonsdeviela, who murdered many people in Havana 
suburbs, including the American Dr. Ruiz, had their 
prototypes all over the island, — Spanish ruffians by 
no means typical of their race, but who had the 
official backing of Spain in her effort to crush the 
rebellion at all costs. 

The prisons in Cuba were filled to overflowing with 
political prisoners charged with most trivial offences. 
General suspects were herded like animals in filthy 
pounds and given scanty sustenance, though their 
friends could send in food and comforts by suffi- 
ciently bribing the jailer; prominent prisoners were 
more closely guarded. Inquisitorial tortures were 
frequently used to extract confession. The methods 
used in Montjuich by Narcisso Portas and others — 
the terrible componte, the mordaza for the mouth, 
and the lash were also employed.^ 

Every week a ship loaded with deportados and in- 
valid soldiers left Havana; the Cubans, political sus- 
pects, gazing wistfully on their fatherland for the last 
time, were bound for the African penal hells, Cha- 
ferinas or Cueta, or the pestilential isle of Fernando 

1 Among instances of tortures I investigated, at San Severino 
Fortress, Matanzas, Fidel Fundora, a planter, was for weeks sub- 
jected to infamous barbarities, including the thumb-screv', suspen- 
sion head dowuAvards, the lash, and a mock execution, to extort the 
names of the local patriotic Junta in that city. Fundora was 
released by General Blanco, a sliattered wreck, crippled for life. 

77 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Po in the Gulf of Guinea. Their sobs were drowned 
by the exultant cheers of the inutile soldiers, who 
looked back at the fading coasts and realized that 
they were exchanging hardships and the tyranny of 
compulsory service for home in their beloved Spain. 
The deportados, sent to exile, had less hope than 
their more active brothers captured in the field, 
whose torture sooner or later would be ended by the 
firing squad. 

The insurgents in Havana Province were very 
aggressive during the summer of '97, which was 
extremely dry. During June and July great efforts 
were made by the Spaniards to entrap the young 
leader, Nestor Aranguren and his dashing cavalry- 
men recruited from the best families in the island. 
I applied for permission from the Marquis Ahumada 
to join the Spanish columns, but received a courteous 
refusal, since "the rebels might capture and murder" 
me. It was not politic to explain that I should fall 
among friends, so I had to view the operations from 
the railroad and interior towns. General Molina led 
three columns into the Guira Melena district, which 
is shut in by a triangular barrier formed by the rail- 
way lines running from Havana to Batabano, and the 
Guines and Matanzas roads, joining at A^uacate. 

For days the troops operated in this zone, but the 
tireless Cubans, hemmed in but never caught, skir- 
mished with the Spanish hordes with impunity until 
the operations were abandoned. To follow Molina's 
discomfiture, Weyler took the field again in person, 

78 



Weyler's Meat Trust 

and bravely rounded up a vast quantity of cattle, 
corralled by permission under the forts on the out- 
skirts of the towns. He had placed an embargo on 
the importation of livestock from abroad; so hun- 
dreds of head were driven into Havana and sold at 
an exorbitant price. I could name a dozen reconcen- 
trados who thus lost their only means of subsistence. 
They did not get a cent for the stolen stock, and 
starved to death. If, as Weyler affirms, starvation 
was unavoidable, why did he loot cattle and sell 
them for his own benefit? The beasts could have 
been taken, and the meat issued to the perishing 
reconcentrados ; but I saw in Santiago de las Vegas 
and Guines droves of milch cows seized and sent to 
Havana to be sold, while in both places the blood 
from the beasts killed for the soldiers was lapped 
from the ground by famished people, and the dis- 
carded entrails fought over and devoured raw. It 
was a sight I shall never forget. 

A meat trust was formed ; the Spanish Fernandez 
de Castro, and Weyler's secretary. Colonel Escri- 
bano, had sole rights as middle men in issuing the 
captured beef, controlling the price at will. 

On his return from this campaign I first met Wey- 
ler. He rode into Guanabacoa with a large force, 
harassed all the way by bushwhacking Cubans, who 
tried in vain to get through the flanks for one shot at 
him. When the general arrived. Alcaide Maury pro- 
vided a luncheon, at the close of which I was pre- 
sented. To describe this man or brute, to whom 

79 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

human life was as nothing, is a difficult task. He 
greeted me cordially enough, and apologized for his 
travel-stained condition due to the campaign. He 
was a dapper little man, decidedly under the medium 
build, wnth bushy eyebrows and side whiskers, a 
determined face, with thin cruel lips over a sensuous 
double chin. He wore the regulation light blue and 
white cotton uniform, rough riding-boots, and a large 
straw sombrero. He looked hot, tired, and dirty; 
given a black patch and cutlass, he was the orthodox 
l^irate of fiction. He talked simply, in a thick voice, 
and exhibited a trying, nervous twitching of eye- 
brows and hands with every sentence. His keen, 
blas(1 eyes pierced one through ; their glance was abso- 
lutely distrustful, and showed that he would suspect 
his own brother. We talked of the reconcent'rados, 
of war, and chiefly of the United States. He seemed 
suspicions at my knowledge, and asked me sharply: 
"How long have you been here?" I equivocated, 
replying I had been in Havana but a few weeks. 

The Americans, he thought, Avere encouraging the 
Cubans Avith the ultimate hope of seizing the island. 
As to the insurrection he declared that there were 
not five hundred rebels in the west, — a statement I 
knew to be false, — and said he would soon pass east- 
ward and destroy Garcia and the rebels there. He 
believed Gomez dead, or a fugitive. 

" In that case these poor reconcentrados can go back 
to their homes soon?" I remarked interrogatively. 

Weyler lifted his eyebrows. " Ah, but these Cuban 
80 




^ § 

q 
o 



I Meet Weyler 

women have borne rebel sons and will encourage 
them," was his significant replj. 

"Then, General, what of their future? Must all 
starve?" 

" These people are but eating the fruit of the tree 
they sowed," he said. "I am here to crush the 
rebels, others must see to the resettlement of Cuba. 
This is war. I meet war with war. I have done as 
Sherman did. The distress is bad, but the measure 
necessary. The rebels will not fight us openly, and 
as it is difQcult to quell them by bullets, we must 
starve them out. It is their own doing. They could 
surrender and end the war, and save their wives and 
children, but they persist in combating Spain, and 
this is the result. What of the families of our sol- 
diers killed in the war?" 

That was the only excuse I ever heard the general 
make for holding as hostages and starving 500,000 
innocent women and children. 

A Cuban lady in deep black approached, and was 
received with deference, though Weyler frequently 
shook his head and frowned ominously, for his visi- 
tor was imploring him to grant something. " Madam, 
I kiss your feet. May God guard you many years ! " 
he said as he dismissed her. Then I saw the true 
Weyler. He was in a boiling rage and cursed his 
officers. The mask of affability was off. His quick 
eyes snapped viciously, and his features were dis- 
torted with passion, but for no apparent reason. He 
was not Beauty before, he was decidedly the Beast 
6 81 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

now. It is impossible to picture an expression so 
completely changed. His heart was as adamant, 
but I believe that man's life was a hell, that, in 
re-echo of Cleomenes of old, "scenes of blood lay 
dreadful on his soul." Hence his varying moods and 
frequent outbursts. He did not entirely regain his 
equanimity; but he invited me to ride into Havana 
with him, and failed to hide his relief when I de- 
clined the honor. That afternoon, as he rode in tri- 
umph through the capital at the head of his men, I 
was surprised at the coolness of his reception. His 
bodyguard, his Celeres, — picked men recruited from 
the negro Bomberos, or firemen, — commanded by a 
seven-foot black of ogrish aspect, marched first, then 
the Captain-General and a guard of dragoons; but 
even in Obisbo Street only the gamins yelled "Viva 
Weyler! " the volunteers saluted, and cried "Viva 
Espana!" The general public received the hero 
with contemptuous silence. 

"There can be slain no sacrifice to God more 
acceptable than an unjust and wicked king;" but, in 
a wide application of Seneca, but one attempt was 
made on Weyler' s life, — a bomb thrown in the pal- 
ace. Yet he walked nightly down the Prado with 
only an aide and three secret police sauntering be- 
hind. Some Cubans often debated with me the 
feasibility of seizing him there one night, dragging 
him down the steps to the Punta beach and shipping 
him down the coast to Gomez, to be held as a hostage 
for all Cuban prisoners. This would have been easy 

82 



Weyler's Capture Planned 

in the darkness with a launch, and a tug in the offing 
that could race the obsolete boats in the harbor. We 
worked persistently in planning this. The guards 
were to be overpowered by sudden onslaught from 
the rear; the general seized, pinioned, and embarked. 
Lack of funds delayed the attempt. Finally we 
chartered a tug in Key West; but the owner drew 
back at the last, and just as another boat was offered, 
Weyler was recalled. It would have been a master 
stroke, and one I regret that was not carried out. " It 
is good for one to taste the meal he cooks for others," 
as the Spaniards say. 

The general was absolutely implacable. When 
the devoted young American lady Miss Someillian 
begged on bendecl knees for her father's liberation 
from imprisonment on a groundless charge, she re- 
minded him that he too had a daughter. "Yes," 
was the prompt reply, as he roughly threw off the 
pleading girl, " and if her father were a filibuster she 
would loyally disown him." 

Colonel Laborde, who had served Spain faithfully 
at home in the past, and whose Cuban-born sons 
became rebels, pleaded in vain with Weyler for the 
life of his son Edward, captured on the filibuster 
"Competitor." "We have been soldiers of Spain 
together," said the old officer, "and you. General, 
have also a son you love." "Yes," was the reply, 
"and if my own son were disloyal and rebelled to-day 
against Spain, with my own hand would I sign his 
death decree." 

83 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

These incidents throw side lights on Weyler's 
character, and he is one of the few men of whom it 
seems impossible to relate anything really redound- 
ing to his credit. 

If Premier Canovas had replaced Weylerism with 
true clemency at an early date, the history of Cuba 
to-day would have been different. The dead states- 
man supported him to his last day, and after six 
months of the brutal regime the loss of Cuba to 
Spain was obvious to all but the blinded ministers 
in Madrid. Using turf and scriptural metaphors, 
Spain backed the wrong horse ; and when reason pre- 
vailed and Blanco arrived with the autonomy that 
two years earlier would have saved the situation, 
like the doom of the foolish virgins, " Too late, too 
late, ye cannot enter now ! " was the cry that greeted 
him. 

At the end of July the insurgent fires burned 
nightly on the hills behind Havana; tlie cane of 
Fernandez de Castro and on other fortified estates 
nearer the city blazed repeatedly. The rebels were 
at the gates of the capital at that time, and I had 
secret information that General Castillo, a 3'oung 
professor of languages then with the rebels, and 
Delgado and Hernandez, would simultaneously attack 
the fortified barricade guarding Havana, Castillo, at 
the suburb of Jesus del Monte, and the two latter at 
Mariano, a pretty little watering-place on the western 
j side. Thinking the latter would be the more inter- 
' ' esting fight, I drove to Mariano on the evening be- 

84 



The Raid of Mariano 

fore the elate, and registered at the dirty and only 
hotel Santa Clara. 

A heavy thunderstorm had cleared the air, and it 
was a glorious night for the rainy season. As I sat 
on the piazza, the soft throbbing of the organ from 
the little iglesia blended with the rippling of the sea 
on the sandy shore ; the moon shone clearly, making 
a flow of silvery sheen on the water, the pure radi- 
ance lighting up the distant spires and domes of 
Havana city and softening the squalor of the recon- 
centrados' hovels. Campfires flickered from the 
Vedado and the forts along the Almanares River. 
The great Santa Clara and Vedado batteries loomed 
grimly in the distance; the moon's pale effulgence 
rested on their massive guns, making them gleam 
like polished silver. Too far away to heed the racket 
of the gay city, the suburb seemed sleeping. 

The silence was broken only by the bugles of the 
outposts sounding the nightly retreat, and the far- 
away baying of dogs. From a fort in the valley a 
few conscripts, thinking of Spain, were singing the 
constitutional hymn as they lay round the campfire. 
I looked almost sadly on this peaceful scene, as I 
thought of the horrors the morrow would bring forth, 
the bloodshed and strife that was inevitable. 

Up the main street some troops now approached. 
A passing column I thought, as a party of horsemen 
rode along, followed by some shambling infantry. As 
they marched under the shadow of the piazza, I could 
not see them closely. 

85 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

"Alto! Qui^n vive?" challenged the sentinel at 
the Cuartel. 

" Viva Cuba libre ! " shouted a dozen voices, and 
the warning shot of the sentinel was drowned in the 
volley that followed. At the same time mine host, 
also an officer in the volunteers, dashing up with a 
cry of "Los Mambis," dragged me inside and com- 
menced to barricade the door and windows. The 
Cubans had rushed the forts, and entered the very 
outskirts of Havana unchecked. The firing now 
became general, the insurgents trying to storm the 
Cuartel from which the soldiers blazed incessantly. 
Finding the door resisted their efforts, they placed a 
guard over the building and commenced to search 
for clothes. They were terribly ragged and emaci- 
ated, several clad only in sugar-sacks, and they went 
from house to house demanding food and apparel, 
giving a receipt for the same to be redeemed later. 

"Open that door! " demanded a stern voice at the 
hotel; "open or we will burst it in." The proprie- 
tor and his assistants lay on the floor still as death. 

" This house belongs to a bad Spaniard ; let us burn 
him out," suggested one; and then a woman beside 
me began to whine, and call on the Virgin for 
protection. 

" Oh, there are only women there ! " growled an- 
other. "If you want to find a black-hearted Span- 
iard, there is one ! " and at this they trooped over to 
the opposite corner, a large bodega owned by a noto- 
rious volunteer, Colonel Echezaretta. Here they were 

86 



The Raid of Mariano 

met with a volley ; for the owner and his assistants, 
all volunteers, had formed a barricade of rum-barrels 
and were intrenched. Amid the lurid flashes the 
Cubans could be seen tearing down the iron bars of 
the windows, the shutters were demolished, and then 
they poured in. The brutal face of the colonel 
loomed above the crowd; he felled the first man 
with the butt of his gun, then a machete flashed, 
and with a sickening gurgle he in turn sank back 
dead ; the others fled from the rear. The insurgents 
cleaned out the place, blowing open the safe and 
obtaining a rich haul, for this man's goods were as 
the spoils of war. 

By this time the garrisons from the forts were 
formed, and led down against the Cubans by one 
brave young officer. As usual, every one of his supe- 
riors had deserted their posts and gone into the city 
for pleasure, and when the rebels suddenly dashed 
up to the barricade, the leaderless soldiers had not 
attempted to stay their passage. This lieutenant 
now formed his troops behind garden walls and on 
the azoteas of houses where they could sweep the 
town. The rebels likewise entrenched themselves, 
one shouting to the people to lie flat on the floor to 
escape shots. From house to house the fight raged; 
the bullets crashed through our shutters, ricocheted 
on the roof and pavement. The young lieutenant 
was wounded, and then the Spaniards retired. Del- 
gado next posted guards at the head of every street 
to hold the approaches. 

87 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

I tried to get outside when the firing ceased, but 
the hotel-keeper dared me to unbar the door. " You 
must be crazy," he said, "or are you a rebel trying to 
betray me to your comrades ? " and the rascal got so 
excited I thought he would shoot me in my tracks. 
Still both from front and back I could see all that 
I wanted. The Cubans did not come to the house 
again, but visited a large cafd opposite. Two young 
Spanish waiters, half dead with fear, had concealed 
themselves, one in a barrel, the other in the refrig- 
erator. Several rebel officers came in and opened 
wine ; a piano stood near, and some played and sang. 
Suddenly, like Jack from the box, a terrified head 
and shoulders popped from the ice-chest, and begged 
not to be killed. Nearly frozen, the Spaniard had 
been forced to come out. How the Cubans laughed ! 
They rubbed his hands, gave him wine, and quite 
reassured, he played while they sang. 

Foraging parties Avent from house to house and 
searched for food and clothes. Several invaded the 
residence of an English shipper, Mr. Hall, taking the 
clothes from his wardrobe with apologies, stating 
that he could buy others and their needs were great. 
Some English ladies staying in the house were terri- 
fied, but two lieutenants assured them they need fear 
nothing, and no one else spoke to them. Though 
told one door led to a lady's bedroom, some soldiers 
pushed in and opened the wardrobe. Delgado, seeing 
this, gave them several strokes with his sheathed 
machete. "Are we fiends that we war on women, 

88 



The Raid of Mariano 

or do you want corsets to improve your ugly fig- 
ures?" lie demanded; and then the party withdrew. 
Some of the men afterwards returned demanding 
money, and obtained several dollars, though they 
begged that they should not be reported, as they 
would be shot if discovered. Houses of Spaniard 
and Cuban were treated alike unless the owner was 
known as a volunteer. Then they took everything 
he had. 

After the fighting, parties carried the dead and 
wounded off through the lines to the woods. All 
the clothing was collected, and the men came up in 
batches, obtaining such garments as they most needed, 
and according to fit. Behind the church in the Plaza 
Domingo, Hernandez had a clandestine meeting with 
his fiancee, Leona Calve, sister of a dentist of Phila- 
delphia then staying with them. It was a terrible 
risk for the girl, though she were an American born 
in New Orleans ; but these Southern beauties will go 
through fire and water for the man they love. With 
little addition, a novelist in Cuba could write ro- 
mances of life by the tome, far stranger than fiction's 
fairy flights, but with unhappy and thus unorthodox 
sequels. The brave Spaniards were all in hiding, 
and only friends saw her; but the little tete-a-tete 
was rudely broken by the advent of the cavalry from 
Havana, who suddenly charged down on the Cuban 
guards. 

" Venga Mambi! Viva Espana! " they yelled; their 
sabres flashed in the moonlight, and my heart froze 

89 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

as I saw the weak outposts turn to withstand their 
furious onslaught. A line of Cubans was thrown 
across the road, two sharp volleys rang out, and the 
cavalry drew up, wheeled, and retreated in confusion 
leaving their dead on the street. But they were only 
the advance guard. The Cubans had entered at nine 
and it was now one A. M., and the troops from the im- 
mense Havana garrisons were at length en route. 
The outposts galloped in, announcing the approach 
of a Spanish column, and having completely outfitted 
their men and obtained supplies, Delgado and Her- 
nandez marched out on one side as the Spanish 
regulars poured in on the other. Instead of pursu- 
ing the Cubans, the Spaniards wasted several hours 
drinking and investing the town. 

When all danger was past the hotel-keeper came to 
me and presented his bill, explaining that he wanted 
money badly. Demurring at its exorbitance for 
such wretched accommodation, I paid the mercenary 
wretch. Then he sneaked off to the Cuartel and 
informed the soldiers that a Yankee at his house had 
tried to communicate with the rebels, and I was 
hauled off and lodged in the Cuartel of the Bom^ 
beros. Dr. Calve was also arrested, mainly because 
he talked English, and probably twenty Cubans were 
brought in during the night. I was rather annoyed 
than alarmed, and could sleep but little on the filthy 
floor, swarming with scorpions and other unclean 
beasts. A Spanish prison is never desirable under 
any circumstances. Fortunately, and by the merest 

90 



Arrested and Released 

chance, I had among my papers the card of Mr. 
McLean, managing director of the Mariano Railroad, 
owned by a British company. The military co- 
mandante knew him well; my passport was in order, 
and next morning, after a short examination, my 
papers were returned and I was liberated with apolo- 
gies. Calv^ also was freed next day. Castillo's raid 
on Jesus del Monte did not take place as arranged. 
For some reason General Acosta had sent Delgado 
to attack Mariano the night before the date fixed for 
the combined assault. Acosta was severely censured 
by Gomez for disobedience of orders. 



91 



CHAPTER IV 

EVANGELINA CiSNEROS 

Strolling with Mr. George Eugene Bryson one 
hot June morning through the lower quarters of 
Havana, we visited the Real Casa de Recogidas, a 
prison for abandoned women of the lowest class. 
We chatted casually with the alcaide, Don Jose 
Quintana, in a dingy room pretentiously labelled Sala 
de Justicia, and after he had partaken of the uni- 
versal copita at our expense, he graciously invited us 
to view the prison. 

Even the sty of prisoners awaiting execution in 
Kumassi did not surpass this scene. We entered a 
passage by a heavy gate, and looked into a vast court- 
yard through an iron lattice work, like the open side 
of a huge menagerie cage. Penned within was the 
most frightful horde of women I have ever seen. 
Repulsive black viragos raved, swore, and scolded; 
gorgons, scantily clad, who had lost all sense of 
shame, clamored at the bars of their den, begging for 
money, cigars, or drink, and using filthy language 
when the jailor threw aside the claw-like arms they 
extended through the grating. Sitting on the steps 
leading to the cells, a negress accused of child mur- 
der was gambling with a hideous mulatto woman 
incarcerated for highway robbery, while from the 

92 



Evangelina Cisneros 

incomunicaclo cell came the ravings of a frenzied 
wretch just arrested for attempted stabbing. There 
were perhaps a hundred of these repulsive creatures 
in all ; and the filth, the foetid stench, and loathsome 
surroundings turned me sick and faint. The place 
resembled rather a huge cage of gorillas; for in the 
degradation of these outcasts the evolutionistic the- 
ory was strongly borne out: they resembled beasts 
rather than human beings. 

There suddenly appeared in their midst a white 
face, young, pure, and beautiful ; a maiden of perhaps 
seventeen was crossing the yard. With her pale fea- 
tures surmounted by masses of dark hair, her simple 
white dress and dignified bearing, all accentuated by 
the horrible surroundings, she resembled the Madonna 
of an old master, inspired with life but plunged into 
Hades. 

" There 's money in that face if she were not a 
fool! " said the brutal little jailer, as he leered covet- 
ously through the bars with his one eye, the other 
having been destroyed in a fight with one of his pro- 
t^g^es. The girl, intuitively divining that she was 
being discussed by strangers who sometimes lounged 
in the passage and taunted the prisoners, turned and 
looked in our direction, half defiantly, half contemptu- 
ously ; but reading the pity on our faces, she averted 
her gaze as if ashamed of her surroundings, and hur- 
ried inside amid a chorus of jeers and insults from 
her fellow-prisoners. "Beautiful eyes, eh! " said the 
alcaide's voice behind us; "but they will be spoiled 

93 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

in there. She is a shameful little rebel and very- 
brave," he added in a lower tone, "'and will never 
get out, for she is too mulish, when her face would 
buy her liberty." — This was my introduction to 
Senorita Evangelina Cosio Cisneros. 

Over a further libation the garrulous Don Josd 
recounted the story of the young prisoner. This old 
alcaide was by no means a bad man, the reverse as 
Spanish officials go; but orders were orders, he ex- 
plained, and Evangelina might have better treatment 
if she were more complacent to officers who visited 
the prison. It is unnecessary to explain what such 
complacency meant, and my interest in the young 
Cuban lady was increased a thousandfold when I 
heard her full story. Quintana called her into the 
sala, where she received us Avith the well-bred grace 
of the salon; but her dignity was assumed. It was 
so long since she had been spoken to with respect or 
sympathy, and she soon broke down and wept. From 
that day forth we were firm friends. Her story reads 
so like a mediaeval romance that many doubt its 
authenticity; but I have obtained the exact details 
by interviewing every one concerned, including Evan- 
gelina 's great-uncle, the Marquis of Santa Lucia and 
ex-president of the Cuban republic, the priest of 
Gerona, and Arias Sagrera, secretary to the governor 
of the Isle of Pines. 

Evangelina is the daughter of a well-known family 
in Camaguey or Puerto Principe province, where the 
old Castilian grandees settled, and have remained 

94 



Filial Devotion 

select like the F. F. 's of Virginia. Her father was 
an officer in the ten years' war, and at the close was 
reduced to penury, in common with hundreds of other 
Cubans who lost their all in the insurrection. Evan- 
gelina was but a child when her mother died, and 
with her sisters she was brought up by Senora Nores 
at Sagua. Her education finished, she rejoined her 
father in Cienfuegos until the outbreak of the revo- 
lution of '95. Then their home became a centre of 
the Cuban party; and to appreciate the spirit of the 
Cuban ladies, it is necessary to hear Miss Cisneros 
relate the story herself, and see her ejes flash with 
the glow of patriotism as she speaks of the prepara- 
tions to free Cuba. 

But it was the old, old story. Her father was rais- 
ing a body of cavalry when a traitor betrayed the 
organization, just before they were to take to the 
field on June 22, 1895. All the men were arrested. 
Evangelina's sisters were taken away by friends, but 
she patiently waited by the prison until the court- 
martial sentenced her father to death. General Cam- 
pos was in Santa Clara, and to him Evangelina 
journeyed. Despite the insults of the soldiers, she 
waited round the palace for days, and finally met 
Captain Campos, and through him reached his father. 
The old soldier was touched by her filial devotion, and 
commuted the sentence to banishment for life. 

Broken in health, the prisoner was removed to the 
Isle of Pines, where a system similar to the old Aus- 
tralian convict days was in vogue. Escape from the 

95 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

island being almost impossible, the prisoners were 
engaged in cultivation, and lived in separate huts. 
Evangelina voluntarily followed her father into exile, 
and, contented by the reunion, they enjoyed compara- 
tive happiness in their seclusion. The military gov- 
ernor. Colonel Menendez, was a quiet man, who 
troubled his prisoners little; but he was of the Cam- 
pos' day, and upon Weyler's arrival was recalled. 
Colonel Berriz, a nephew of General Azcarraga, the 
Minister of War in Madrid, afterwards Premier, was 
eligible for any post of fat perquisites and little risk ; 
so he received the appointment. Though married, 
he had been involved in a notorious scandal in 
Havana, and altogether was a regular type of blas^ 
Spanish officer and gentleman. 

In Gerona, the port of the penal colony, he missed 
the society of the gay capital. There were but a few 
wives of exiles, and some indifferent female prisoners 
there, and the striking beauty of Evangelina soon 
attracted his notice. He was governor, she a rebel's 
daughter; he marked the innocent girl as an easy 
prey, and was exceedingly surprised to find his at- 
tentions met with no response. His vanity was hurt, 
and he at once tried other means. 

Without warning, her father was seized, and shut 
in the protectorado. Half divining the reason of the 
persecution, Evangelina went to Berriz and begged 
for her father's release. The governor, gallantly 
assuring her that he could refuse her nothing, 
ordered his liberation. Trembling with joy, the 

96 



Colonel Berriz 

frail girl poured out effusive thanks, but her heart 
sank when the rou^ continued: "Thanks are easy, 
bat later I will judge your gratitude;" and he then 
made violent protestation of love. From that day 
Evangelina remained closely indoors, and her father, 
realizing her danger, seldom left her. 

After the inspection of prisoners on July 24, he 
was again placed under arrest ; but his daughter, real- 
izing what the persecution implied, did not venture 
into the brutal officer's presence. T wo nights later 
she had retired, when a knock came at the door. In 
hope for her father, in fear of her tormentor, she 
slipped on a dressing-gown, , when the door opened 
and Berriz in full uniform entered. Trembling with 
fear, she asked her visitor to be seated, and he in- 
quired why she spurned him when she knew her 
parent's fate was in his hands. 

She pitifully begged him to cease molesting her, 
and prayed him to release her father; but he swore 
he was devoted to her, threatened and cajoled alter- 
nately, and became so persistent in his attentions that 
she dashed for the door. The colonel seized her by 
the shoulders, and stifling her screams, forced her 
back to the inner room. But her cry for help had 
been heard. In the hotel, near by, some men were 
gathered, and rushed to the rescue. One, a young 
Cuban named Betencourt, was an ardent admirer of 
Evangelina; and with him were Vargas, a clerk, and 
a young French merchant named Superville. With- 
out ceremony they rushed into the house, seized 
7 97 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Berriz, and flung him to the ground. Betencourt, 
not unnaturally, thrashed him soundly, and then he 
was bound with rope to be taken to the civil judge. 

At first the craven cur begged for mercy; then, 
seeing soldiers standing undecided in the crowd, he 
shouted for the guard, yelling that the Cuban pris- 
oners were murdering him. From the Cuartel a 
company of troops doubled up, and the people scat- 
tered. They fired down the street killing and wound- 
ing several, and then released Berriz and seized 
Evangelina and her three rescuers. The governor 
thought it politic to hush up the matter, but unfortu- 
nately, prominent citizens had been shot, and an in- 
quiry was imminent. That he was found in a lady's 
room he was powerless to deny, but he excused him- 
self by saying Evangelina had enticed him to enter, 
and the men, hiding inside, were ready to kill him, 
free the prisoners, and seize the island. The story 
was ludicrous; but rebellion is always scented in 
Cuba, and Weyler ordered the prisoners brought to 
Havana for trial for attempted murder and rebellion. 

Having locked up Evangelina in the Recogidas, he 
shut up not only the male participators, but Arias, 
the secretary of Berriz, and every one likely to have 
damaging evidence against the governor. Then he 
coolly allowed the matter to drop, for the screening 
of Azcarraga's name and honor was far more impor- 
tant than the personal liberty of a dozen Cubans. 
Miss Cisneros languished ten months in that foul 
prison without news of her father, and in suspense 

98 



The Recogidas 

as to her fate. At first the wretched inmates had 
beaten her, but eventually they left her alone. Few 
girls of her age could have lived through her experi- 
ences ; but the hope of reunion with her father sus- 
tained her, though her health was greatly impaired. 
I promised to try and smuggle a note to her parent 
in the Cabana fortress, and when, by bribing a sol- 
dier, the note was delivered and I took her the reply, 
she cried for joy. 

By judicious presents to the venal warden, we soon 
had the entree to the prison at all times, and at least 
were able to cheer her in her loneliness. At this 
time also Senora Agremonte, Miss Aguilar, Mrs. 
Sotolongo, and the unfortunate wives of Generals 
Recio and Rodriguez were held in the Recogidas on 
political charges. General Lee visited the prison, 
and protested to Weyler against the herding of these 
ladies with criminals. Orders were then given to 
have a separate sleeping-place partitioned off. Mrs. 
Fitzhugh Lee, the general's noble wife, and her 
daughter, also called and cheered these ladies greatly- 
Then the political prisoners were freed and expelled 
from Cuba, and only Mrs. Sotolongo and Evangelina 
remained. Mrs. Sotolongo was soon moved to the 
prison hospital, and Evangelina was again alone. 

Meantime Bryson, who had considerable influence 
in Havana, was working hard to secure the girl's 
release. The publication of her story in the press 
we sedulously avoided, realizing that it would stir 
up further resentment against the helpless prisoner. 

LofC. ^^ 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Money is the key to all Spanish jails, and Bryson 
soon located the military judge in whose charge the 
case was pigeonholed. He demanded S2000 gold to 
secure her acquittal, $500 paid in advance as earnest 
money. He made threats when the cash was not 
promptly forthcoming; and Bryson, without commit- 
ting himself, advanced a certain sum to stay action. 
With a view to extortion, and by the judicial jug- 
glery prevalent in Cuba, the judge strove to force 
Bryson's hand by fixing a court-martial for the pris- 
oners, and asking a heavy sentence for Evangelina. 
I doubt if the sentence would have been sustained; 
it was simply blackmail, and we at once formulated 
plans to frustrate the scheme by rescuing the girl. 
The judge, thinking she would induce Bryson to pay 
the bribe, notified her of impending exile to Africa, 
but she entered into our plans of rescue with avidity. 
No risk seemed too great for her to undertake, and 
finally we had arranged to reach the window of her 
dormitory by a plank from a house opposite, and were 
only awaiting the chance to secure her escape from 
the city, when a new complication arose. 

Bryson was ignominiously expelled by General 
Weyler as an insurgent sympathizer, and at this 
juncture also the " Official Gazette " contained a 
notice of impending trial of the Isle of Pines case 
in furtherance of the game of blackmail. American 
papers printed garbled accounts from Spanish sources, 
and it became necessary to publisli the true story in 
New York. I next planned, with the assistance of 

100 




Copyright, by the Continental Publishi7ig Co. 



Jo ^cooA^u e-uruCiO Gc^Jt^ ^Tf^TZk) 



First Plans for Rescue 

a friend, to visit the prison one evening, and having 
sent the sentinel from the main gate to purchase 
cigars as usual, to seize and gag the alcaide when he 
brought the prisoner out into the sala, which was 
beyond the inner gates of the prison. The key of 
the outer postern lay on the official's desk, so Miss 
Cisneros could then have easily left the building with 
us; but the supreme difficulty was to secure her 
escape from Havana. It was arranged with a patri- 
otic engine-driver on the Matanzas Railroad to carry 
us out in disguise in a freight-car, and deposit us 
beyond Regla, where the young general Aranguren 
had promised to meet us by the barrier and cut a 
way through. Once with the insurgent army she 
would be comparatively safe, until her passage from 
the island could be arranged. 

This plan we should have carried into effect had 
not the almost friendless girl suddenly found her 
name on the lips of the civilized world, and it seemed 
her release would come pacifically. Mr. Hearst of the 
" Journal " sent for her history, and I was able to send 
him the statement of the prison doctor that consump- 
tion was inevitable if she suffered further imprison- 
ment, and also two pictures, one taken before her 
imprisonment and one eight months later. The 
story made a great sensation on August 27, when 
published, though unfortunately my full signature 
was placed above it, and from thenceforth I was 
under close surveillance and my movements ham- 
pered. The press in all parts of the globe took up 

101 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the case. The ladies of America, and later of Great 
Britain, started petitions for the girl's release. In 
a few days over 20,000 signatures had been affixed 
in the United States. Mrs. Jefferson Davis, Mrs. 
Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Logan, Mrs. Grant, Mrs. 
Sherman, Mrs. McKinley, Mrs. Hodgson Burnett, 
and many others worked energetically on the case. 
Mrs. Orraiston Chant took up the petition in Eng- 
land, Lady Henry Somerset and Miss Marie Corelli 
both actively participating. 

The Hon. Hannis Taylor, United States minister 
to Madrid, presented the petitions to the Queen 
Regent, and was assured that Evangelina would be 
sent immediately to a convent, pending investiga- 
tions ; but the unfortunate lady of Spain was power- 
less to act against Weyler backed by Canovas. 

The Spanish press of Havana was furious at the 
prominence given to the case, and the damage caused 
thereby to Spain; and "El Comercio" and an even 
worse production, "La Union Constitucional," were 
filled with filthy insults and suggestions against 
Americans in general, and myself in particular. 
Senor De Lome, the Spanish minister to Washing- 
ton, did not hesitate to defame the character of the 
defenceless girl. General Lee had gone to the States 
for vacation, and he was freely quoted or misquoted 
in the circular issued by the Spanish legation, and 
which tried to prove Miss Cisneros of "humble birth." 
" Nobilitatis virtus non stemma character. " It mat- 
tered little if she were niece to a marquis or to a 

102 



Karl Decker Arrives 

laborer, — she was at least a woman in dire need; but 
the interest, nevertheless, was somewhat lessened. 
Eventually in eastern Cuba, I obtained signed veri- 
fication of the relationship from the aged marquis 
himself, to reassure the excellent people who feared 
they had been unwittingly interested in the case of a 
plebeian. 

Not only was the Queen Regent's promise that 
Evangelina should go to a convent never fulfilled, 
but upon my visiting the prison three days after I 
heard of the agitation in her favor, Don Jos^ met 
me with a long face, begging me to leave at once, 
as the prisoner was shut up incomunicado, and a 
guard had been placed with orders to arrest any one 
attempting to see her. Luckily Mr. Rockwell of the 
United States consular service, a friend of the Mar- 
quis de Palmerola, had obtained a permit to visit the 
Recogidas. That permit proved the only means of 
communicating with the prisoner. 

Her rescue by force was now far more difficult, and 
at this juncture Mr. Karl^Decker arrived in Havana. 
He is a Viking by nature and appearance, and had 
previously proved his courage during an adventurous 
trip to Gomez. We spent the first afternoon together 
at a Regla bull-fight, during which our conversation 
frequently reverted to Miss Cisneros, and the frus- 
trated plans for her liberation. "She shall be res- 
cued," said Decker, simply, but in a tone that carried 
conviction with it. Our past plans were reviewed, 
and setting aside the house I had first selected, 

103 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Decker picked out an empty residence in the Calle 
O'Farrill, from the roof of which a ladder could be 
stretched to the parapet of the Recogidas with less 
risk of discovery by the sentinels of the adjacent 
arsenal, and the cuartels of artillery and Orden 
Publico. 

The details of the rescue have been fully published 
by Decker himself in the " Story of Evangelina Cis- 
neros; " so I need not recapitulate fully, how, on the 
night of October 5, the first attempt to cut the bars 
was unsuccessful, but on the following night the 
prison was broken and the prisoner freed. Also 
how Miss Cisneros was hidden in Havana until Sat- 
urday, while the police started a house-to-house 
search, but dressed as a boy, she escaped on board 
the steamship "Seneca," having in the gathering 
darkness presented a regular passport as Juan Sol- 
dado to police-inspector Perez at the gangway, with- 
out discovery. When she was safely at sea, we 
invited every friend on sight to a birthday dinner; 
and a convivial party gathered, though but three of 
us knew what that birthday really was. 

On Sunday Decker ^ sailed under an assumed name 
on the Spanish steamer "Panama," just as the police 
obtained warrants for his arrest; for the full story 
was printed in New York and the Spanish consul 

1 Mr. Decker during the winter formulated a plan to rescue 
Captain Dreyfus which Mr. Hearst wished to effect without causing 
international complications. AVe should have probably started from 
the Cuban coast ; but the Maine disaster and war diverted this un- 
precedented journalistic enterprise. 

104 



The Rescuers Revealed 

notified the authorities. My rooms in the Plaza 
Cristo were raided at 3 A. M. on Monday, but I had 
anticipated this and departed to the country. The 
police tore my things to pieces, but though two hard 
steel saws, used on the bars, lay in a strop case on 
the dressing-table, and letters from Gomez to his 
wife, which I had been asked to forward, were con- 
cealed in the false fly-leaf of Webster's Dictionary, 
the astute detectives found nothing. 

The entire American nation arose to welcome the 
sweet-faced Cuban girl, whose case is without paral- 
lel in modern history. When enthusiastic thousands 
greeted her and her praises were on every lip, she 
did not forget her bleeding country, and one of her 
first acts was to privately visit President McKinley 
to plead the cause of the despairing womanhood of 
Cuba, writhing under the iron heel of the relentless 
Weyler. 

This is a well-known story, though for obvious 
reasons fictitious names were used at the time, that 
the identity of the rescuers remaining in Havana 
might be hidden. No one knew, then, that the one 
man, who, by reason of his determined pluck and 
thorough knowledge of the situation, made the rescue 
a success by superintending local details, procuring 
tools and disguises, cutting the bars, and arranging 
for the dangerous embarkation of the fugitive, was 
William McDonald, well known in shipping circles 
in Cuba, and that the mysterious house of refuge 
that the police hunted for in vain was the residence 

105 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

of Senor Carbonelle of the Casa Hidalgo. Both these 
gentlemen willingly ran the risk of breaking prison 
and sheltering Miss Cisneros, absolutely without 
personal interest. They had never seen the pris- 
oner, but joined in the enterprise with avidity, 
McDonald for the spice of adventure he so dearly 
loved, and Carlos Carbonelle because Miss Cisneros 
was suffering for the Cuban cause. Little did this 
noble Cuban expect the sequel when he took such 
risk for a compatriot. "The brave deserve the fair," 
and who shall say the age of chivalry is passed ? He 
carefully guarded his protegee through the three ter- 
rible days in Havana. When war was declared in 
the following April, he left Cuba to accept a cap- 
taincy on General Lee's staff. Hitherto his part in 
the rescue was necessarily secret. When he visited 
the general in his old Virginia home, he was formally 
introduced to another visitor. Miss Cisneros. With 
great surprise did host and hostess learn of the previous 
romantic meeting of these two guests. Need I add 
the finale to this chance reunion? Dressed in his 
simple American uniform, with only Mrs. Logan 
and a few friends as witnesses, Captain Carbonelle 
led his bride privately to the altar in Baltimore, 
thus escaping the vulgar notoriety that the climax 
of such a romance would have brought them at 
a public wedding. He went to the front with 
General Lee immediately after. Now they are liv- 
ing happily in Havana near the scene where mani- 
fest destiny first brought them together; there is 
^ 106 



The Quinta of Aldecoa 

also a wee Evaiigelina, but, as Kipling would say, 
"that is another story." 

Several weeks after his daughter's rescue, Colonel 
Cosio y Cisneros was removed to Aldecoa prison hos- 
pital, where I surreptitiously gained entrance and 
visited him. He was terribly emaciated, but over- 
• joyed at his daughter's release, and quoted the 
famous words "La Libertad" from "Don Quixote," 
gladly accepting the increased severity of his lot, as 
the penalty of his daughter's liberation. 

In this Quinta, shut in cages round the wall like 
wild beasts, were insane creatures, chiefly Cubans 
driven mad through confinement or starvation. Many 
were violent, but no attempt was made to pad the 
cell or restrain patients with strait- jackets. In one 
cage was a cousin of General Menocal, a medical 
student suffering from acute melancholia, following 
imprisonment for aiding rebellion. Next door a 
blear-eyed captain of guerillas foamed and raged, 
"deeds of blood rising dreadful in his soul." On one 
side were the women. One girl, crazed by want, had 
torn off her clothes, and danced naked constantly, 
dropping occasionally from exhaustion, but renewing 
her orgies when she had regained her breath. A 
negress screamed constantly for Free Cuba and cursed 
Weyler; her husband had been shot. A mild-eyed 
little woman sat silently nursing an imaginary child, 
only to spring up like a tigress as one approached, 
swearing they had murdered her babe. Aldecoa was 
but another picture of the frightful effects of the 

107 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

war, by cruelty, oppression, and starvation, — far less 
merciful weapons than the naked swords of the 
guerillas. Colonel Cosio was liberated by General 
Blanco a few months later, a mental and physical 
wreck. 



108 



CHAPTER V 

The Downfall of Weyler. — Failure of Autonomy 
Obvious. — General Blanco. — The De Lome Letter. 
— Spain's Financial Disabilities. 

"El Gran Espaiiol" is dead. The rumor trav- 
elled from mouth to mouth in Havana on August 6th, 
despite the attempted suppression of the news of the 
assassination of the Spanish Premier. Little did the 
anarchist who dealt the fatal blow realize that he 
was striking away the main pillar of Weylerism, and 
bringing down the whole fabric with a crash. 

Azcarraga's futile attempt to hold the reins passed, 
and the Liberal Party assumed power. Then, though 
no paper dare print the story, it was generally known 
that Weyler was to be recalled, and either Campos 
or Blanco would reign in his stead. The recall came 
on October 6, 1897. Every one rejoiced but the 
volunteers ; the loyal Lastituto was furious when the 
complete reversal of the Cuban policy was determined 
by Sagasta, who had long foreseen that American 
intervention could be prevented only by drastic meas- 
ures. When autonomy was talked of, they swore to 
prevent it by force of arms. Lidignant manifestos 
were posted through the city, calling all loyal Span- 
iards : to employ pacific and active force to combat 
such humiliation of Spain by a weak ministry. Wey- 

109 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

ler made paraleipsical speeches of self-glorificatioD 
to foster these sentiments, hoping the determined 
attitude of the volunteers, by established precedent, 
would coerce the Madrid government to retain him 
as Captain-General. 

It seemed that October would innovate a reign of 
terror in Cuban cities; but Sagasta promptly cabled 
a threat to disarm the volunteers in case of disaffec- 
tion, holding Weyler responsible for all disorder. 
Unused to such firm opposition, the egregious loyal- 
ists wavered, and Weyler, realizing that in playing 
with fire, he had nearly kindled a flame against the 
government that he could not control, quieted the 
turbulent spirits, and retired to the steamship " Mont- 
serrate," three days before General Blanco's arrival. 
Thus a rising of Spaniards in Cuba against Spain 
was narrowly averted. Any disturbances then would 
have precipitated a general massacre of Cubans in 
the city. The volunteers had long threatened a 
sort of St. Bartholomew's Eve, and for three weeks 
noted colonials who had taken no part in the rebel- 
lion dared not venture on the streets. 

Weyler and his party took to Spain the spoils of 
the campaign, and the president of the Spanish Bank 
in Havana committed suicide to evade the crisis 
which he was left to face. 

Don Ramon Blanco landed on Sunday, October 

Cplst, and was received in ominous silence. He little 

realized the bitterness of the Cubans against Spain 

that Weyler had fostered, and optimistically spoke of 

110 



The Autonomist Cabinet 

an early end of the reconcentration, and the disin- 
tegration of the insurgent forces, when they found a 
liberal home rule was instituted. He soon discov- 
ered his to be a thankless task. The Spaniards were 
opposed to him. The Cubans had fought for nearly 
three years for an ideal, they had previously been 
bitterly tricked by the Zanjon treaty, and had no 
further faith left in Spanish promises. They promptly 
rejected the new measures. The handful of autono- 
mists in Havana assumed office, but they were either 
exaltados (extreme liberals), or Cubans who favored 
Independence, but were eager to accept half measures 
peaceably. Marcus Garcia, appointed Civil Governor 
of Santa Clara, was a rebel general in the last war. 
Senor Galvez and Dr. Bruson had no love for Span- 
ish control, and the latter had been a powerful enemy 
to Weyler. Senores Giberga and Govin had brothers 
in the insurrection, and had both been forced to 
leave Cuba through political persecution. These men 
formed the Cabinet under the autonomical regime. 

The chief official positions were given to Cubans, 
and Blanco instituted radical changes, despite the 
opposition of the Peninsulars. The entire_change of 
officials in Havana made it again possible for me to 
move freely in the city. The English wife of one of 
the officials arranged for me to meet the prominent 
members of the new Cabinet, and I was thus able to 
obtain exceedingly clear ideas of the reforms. On 
November 6th, I had long interviews with General 
Pando and President Galvez. The former evidently 

111 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

knew the absolute impossibility of pacification, the 
latter thought the insurgents would accept the meas- 
ures, when they found them genuine. Other officials 
were not so optimistic. We, who knew the attitude 
of the Cubans in the field, realized the impotence of 
autonomy either in checking the rebellion or aiding 
the reconcentrados. 

The starving patriots never wavered, and only two 
brothers named Cuervo, unimportant leaders, sur- 
rendered with a handful of war-worn sans culottes, 
though money and position were offered to all who 
came in. The Cubans knew Spain's perfidy too well, 
and while they trusted Blanco's good faith, they 
could not trust the government behind him. 

With a view of inducing further surrenders, envoys 
were despatched to offer bribes to various unimportant 
leaders to desert their generals and accept autonomy. 
Gomez published a general order that such envoys 
captured inciting desertion would be treated as spies 
and shot. If his followers wished to desert their flag, 
there was little to prevent their presenting them- 
selves at the nearest town. Undeterred by this 
order, a Spanish engineer named Ruiz, colonel of the 
Fire Brigade, and a general favorite, offered to in- 
duce his former chum, Nestor Aranguren, to come in 
with his command. As a member of the Union Club 
I knew and esteemed Ruiz, and as General Rodriguez 
had sent me a co]3y of the proclamation of Gomez 
respecting such envoys, I showed him this, which I 
gave to Congressman King when he was investigat- 

112 



The Execution of Colonel Ruiz 

ing the conditions of Cuba. Ruiz laughed, saying, 
"Nestor will never shoot an old friend." Two days 
later he rode into the insurgent camp near Jaruco, 
and was welcomed by Aranguren, who had no suspi- 
cion of the purport of his visit. Then, in the pres- 
ence of the whole command, Ruiz urgently pressed 
the Cubans to accept the generous autonomy of Spain, 
adding that in exchange for their terrible privations, 
comforts and employment awaited all who would 
come in with him to Havana and surrender. 

"You will come, my friend?" he said, turning to 
Aranguren. The young Cuban replied sadly: "You 
were my friend, but you tempted us to betray our 
country and to desert our general. You are now my 
prisoner." A court-martial was formed; and though 
Aranguren advocated mercy, the other officers stated 
that it was necessary to show that their orders must 
be respected and Spain taught a salutary lesson. 
Despite the prohibition, Ruiz, presuming on his friend- 
ship, had attempted to induce desertion and must pay 
the penalty. The poor fellow was shot at sundown. 
The sentence was terribly harsh, but just. 

General Lee, at the instance of Senor Truffaine, 
acting consul of Russia, sent Senores Tosca and Cha- 
con to try to save the unfortunate envoy, but they 
were too late. Ruiz went with his eyes open, and he 
had no more right in the Cuban lines than Andr^ in 
Washington's. 

Only a few weeks before, a doctor had wished to 
take out medicine to a hospital de sangre near 
8 113 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Havana. Dodging the sentries, we managed to drop 
over the barricade at Las Vegas, and reached Cas- 
tillo's camp in safety. I had an interesting inter- 
view with this ex-professor. He foretold the absolute 
rejection of autonomy, and was opposed to American 
Intervention in Cuba. "Let us win our own fight," 
he said, "for not only shall we then more highly 
prize our independence, but we shall have earned 
respect abroad for its achievement." 

I recrossed the lines next day with great difficulty, 
and Castillo moved to Managua. Three days later, 
he was betrayed by a traitor, a Frenchman, who, on 
the plea of showing him some horses, led him and a 
few staff officers into an ambush commanded by 
Captain Ruano of the Artillery. He fell, shot 
through the heart, and two others perished also. 
Young Delgado spurred his horse through the civil 
guards, hacking one down, and escaping with a cut 
from the other that nearly severed his arm. I soon 
saw my poor friend's body carted through Havana, 
exposed to the gibes of the Spanish mob. A bribe 
secured me a closer inspection in the Morgue. The 
fatal shot had been fired so close that the charge 
had blown gaps in the flesh, and charred the 
wound. With machetes the Spanish assassins had 
then hacked the head to a jelly. Castillo was only 
twenty -six. 

Several chiefs of the Havana district followed him. 
Colonel Urra, a brave but not a highly educated 
young officer, was betrayed and killed in a hospital 

114 



Death of Aranguren 

six miles from the capital. The following week 
Colonel Piterra was killed in battle, and some weeks 
later a negro deserter led a Spanish column to a rebel 
prefect's house in the woods where Aranguren was 
visiting that morning, to write and receive de- 
spatches. A file of men could easily have surprised 
and captured the young officer alive; but two bat- 
talions of soldiers commanded by Colonel Benidicto, 
fired volleys through the palmleaf walls of the house, 
killing the prefect, his aged mother, and baby, and 
dangerously wounding his wife and eldest daughter. 
Aranguren also fell wounded, and was prodded to 
death by the bayonets of the valorous soldiery. Thus 
perished the "Marion of Cuba," at the age of twenty- 
three, under the humane rule that was to conciliate 
the Cubans. And Spain protested against the Cuban 
brutality that tried and shot Ruiz for a crime that 
is death in any army. 

General Blanco did try to institute a more humane 
policy; the fault lay with his officers. He liberated 
numbers of political prisoners, the " Competitor " crew 
included ; capital punishment for rebels was abolished, 
and even the leader, Rius Rivera, was offered liberty, 
on condition that he would advocate autonomy. He 
and Colonel Bacallo refused absolutely to do this. 
Other charges were then formulated against the colo- 
nel, but General Pando visited Rivera in prison, and 
begged him in a friendly way to accept Blanco's 
simple conditions. "Patria cara, carior libertas." 
But Rivera, reversing the order, said, " My liberty is 

115 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

dear, but my country is dearer; I will never betray 
it." Finding him obdurate, he was shipped to Spain. 
Dr. Congosto in person told me tliat he would be 
given provisional liberty in the Peninsula; but he 
was incarcerated in the terrible Montjuich, and suf- 
fered severely until released with other prisoners of 
war when peace was declared. 

Senor Canalejas visited Cuba in the late autumn 
on a diplomatic mission, and in the interests of his 
newspaper "El Heraldo." He accompanied a col- 
umn under General Bernal that attacked Ducasse in 
the Cuzco Hills, and visited the reconcentrado settle- 
ments. He came optimistic, was soon doubtful, and 
left with pessimistic views of the situation. As a 
humane and intelligent Spaniard, he expressed his 
views openly to me, in three interviews that appeared 
simultaneously in the " London Chronicle " and " New 
York Journal." ~~ ^ 

I had just taken a long tour through the island, 
visiting every settlement of consequence; and a re- 
port of these horrible conditions in Cuba caused 
much indignation in England. A meeting was held 
in London, protesting against the horrors of Spanish 
rule. This, together with the frank utterances of 
Canalejas, roused the ire of Senor De Lome, the 
Spanish Minister in Washington, who had previously 
been greatly disturbed by an editorial in the " Sun " 
of July 29 regarding my investigations. He wrote 
a letter to Senor Canalejas, from which I extract 
freely : — 

116 



The De Lome Letter 

"The situation here remains unchanged. The pro- 
logue of this second method of warfare will end the day 
that the Colonial Cabinet is appointed, and it relieves 
us in the eyes of this country of a part of the responsi- 
bility of what happens, and places it upon the heads of 
the Cubans they believe immaculate. . . . The Mes- 
sage has undeceived the insurgents, who expected some- 
thing else; it has paralyzed the action of Congress, but 
I consider it bad. Beside the natural and inevitable 
coarseness with which he repeats all the press said of 
Weyler, it shows McKinley is weak, and catering to 
the rabble, and beside, a politicastro (pot-house politi- 
cian), who desires to stand in well with me and also the 
Jingoes of his party * =* * 

"I do not believe you pay enough attention to the 
role of England. That English newspaper "canaille" 
swarming at your hotel, corresponds not only with the 
Journal, but also with the best newspapers and reviews 
of London * =* * 

" It is most important that you should agitate the 
question of commercial relations, even though it is only 
for effect, and you should send a man here that I might 
use to make a propaganda among senators and others in 
opposition to the Junta and to win over exiles * =* * 

"Always your attentive friend and servant who kisses 
your hand " 




\j^^\y^^ Ci^pC^Trvw^ 



SeSor Canalejas had accorded me full permission 
to publish his views both in New York and London, 
and stated that he hoped thereby to remove misun- 

117 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

derstandings in both places. Such frankness did not 
accord with De Lome's dissemblance. 

Unfortunately for the minister, the letter was after- 
wards dropped in Havana, found by a Cuban, and 
forwarded to New York. Its publication led to his 
retirement in disgrace, for having insulted the presi- 
dent elect. Hg^ subsequently charged me with steal- 
ing the letter from the Hotel Inglaterra, though I 
was not in Havana at the time. Previously, being 
unable to disprove certain statements, he had cast 
puerile aspersions on my character, first representing 
me as a deserter from the British army, and later as 
a cashiered lieutenant. Since I had an honorable dis- 
charge for injuries sustained in the Queen's service, 
and being neither politician nor public character, his 
reflections were immaterial. 

On December 6, I started through the island by 
rail, and shall never forget the sights I witnessed, 
/moving from town to town. Settlements I had vis- 
ited in June containing five thousand reconcentrados 
had now but five hundred emaciated wretches on the 
last verge of starvation. In Matanzas City twenty- 
five dead bodies, many of them women and girls, 
were collected in the streets in a single morning, and 
flung into a common grave. The photograph I took 
of the scene was too indecent for publication. On 
the "centrals," in the towns and villages, on the 
railroads, it was the same story, — oppression, starva- 
tion, disease, and death. The uncertainty of life, the 
preponderance of pain over pleasure, and the malig- 

118 



The December Message 

nity of human existence in this great age of progress, 
were truisms forcibly thrust on one in Cuba. 

The President's December message, advising further 
delay, that the efficacy of autonomy in restoring peace 
and prosperity to Cuba could be tested before inter- 
vention took place, was plainly the death-knell to the 
dying residue of the half -million people dispossessed by 
Weyler. General Blanco solicited aid to relieve the 
distress. His army was nine months in arrears, the offi- 
cials were long unpaid, and the meagre subscriptions 
collected were sequestered long before reaching the 
reconcentrados. He provided large zones for culti- 
vation, — the people were too weak to till the ground, 
and then weeks must have elapsed even for the growth 
of the succuleiit tubers so easily raised in Cuba. 
It was impossible for the people to return to their 
devastated farms ; their houses were destroyed, crops 
and stock gone. Spain's impotence was obvious. 
With her exhausted treasury, the insurgents saw the 
futility of her promises and refused to surrender. 

Some brutal Spaniards still ill-treated the hapless 
reconcentrados. 1 The day before I arrived in Santa 

1 Shameful atrocities continued in the field when Sagasta was 
loudly proclaiming his policy of peace and good-will toward the 
rebels. Among many I can vouch for, the murder of Seiior Sar- 
dovar, the Insurgent Civil Governor of Havana, and his wife, and 
the abduction of his daughter, by guerillas g,t Juraco on December 
8, '97, were the worst. The eldest girl, Corinne, seventeen years old, 
has never been traced ; the mutilated body of Eloise, aged fifteen, was 
found at the foot of a cliff by a newly arrived and humane Spanish 
oflicer of the Tapaste garrison. Captain Jose Nestares. Searching 
further, he discovered the youngest girl, Celina, aged five, lying 

119 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Domingo, an aged pacifico passed the lines to the 
zona in search of food, and failing to return by sun- 
set, • slept outside. At five A. m. he was found 
sleeping not one hundred 3'ards from the forts by- 
guerillas, and dragged in. At the railroad cross- 
ing the leader, in the presence of the military com- 
mandante and the old man's daughter and her two 
children, swore that he would teach these dogs to stay 
outside and talk to rebels, and with a vicious lunge, 
drove his sword through the old man's body. I saw 
that corpse just before it was buried. I returned from 
Santa Clara with Mr. Madrigal, United States Consul 
to Columbia, and he and his assistant can vouch for the 
unburied bodies being torn to pieces by vultures, and 
of women and children dying by the railroad track. 

The countryside was inhabited with spectres. The 
real-life scenes were as pages torn from the "In- 
ferno." The shame of it, that under the shadow of 
Free America the despairing cry of these innocent 
people should have passed unheeded until too late! 
The insurgents were soldiers, — they had invited their 
fate. The women and children were innocent, help- 
less, and starving. We may now hurrah over the 
glories of the past campaign, and wave the Stars and 

stunned and bruised in the bushes. He sent the child to the Paula 
hospital, the body to the morgue. The little one soon recovered 
consciousness, and told a revolting story of the murder of her 
parents, and the treatment of her sisters which culminated in the 
death of Eloise. The child had clung screaming to her sister's corpse, 
so was struck on the head and thrown over the cliff with it. The 
bushes had miraculously broken the descent. Celina is now in the 
Cuban Home in Key West. 

120 



Reconcentration Figures 

Stripes on high; but what has been accomplished at 
the cost of many brave lives is too late for the 
achievement of the true object, — an object that might 
have been peaceably attained had a firm policy been 
followed two years ago, by an appeal to Great Britain 
and perhaps another power for combined interven- 
tion. The starving reconcentrados are no more; 
they are already exterminated, — a statement verified 
by General Blanco and Secretary Congosto when 
peace was declared. In the light of present knowl- 
edge, one sees many reasons for a conciliatory policy 
in dealing wdth Spain, that peace might be main- 
tained; yet, with the cries of the stricken ringing 
in our ears, it seemed that the Washington Adminis- 
tration was like a strong man watching the life 
beaten out of a child, intervening when the child 
was dying, and the bully exhausted by his efforts. 
The monster is now dragged off and given his quietus 
— but lo I his victim also is dead. 

Between Weyler's band of '96 and Christmas of 
'97, twenty-two months, the parish priest of Arte- 
misa registered 5123 deaths. More people died in 
that small but overcrowded town, in that short 
period, than the old register recorded from 1806, 
i. e., ninety years. In Santa Clara district alone 
71,847 burial permits were issued during Weyler's 
regime, and such figures are representative of the^ 
island, during the extermination of the Cuban popu- 
lation. The Spanish conscripts were also in dire 
plight, and of the army that Weyler mobilized, the 

121 



X 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

foIlo\Adng rough reports were published for deduction 
after he left: — 

Died in hospital 32,534 

Killed and missing .... 10,000 

Invalided to Spain .... 25,000 

Under treatment .... 14,413 



81,947 



Thus one-third of the force had gone, and to close 
observers the day when Spanish honor could no 
longer sustain such sacrifice was rapidly approach- 
ing. It was a question of endurance, and, despite 
their straits, the insurgents promised w^ell to be vic- 
tors in the trial. Many intelligent Spaniards, seeing 
the abandonment of the island to the Cubans immi- 
nent, advocated its loss by war with the United 
States, as an honorable solution of the difficulty. 

The acts of officers emulously Weyleric, the riot- 
ing of the volunteers, and continued rebel successes, 
might have intimidated an officer less resolute than 
General Blanco. Though he bravely held to his 
post, he was also facing a dire financial crisis, which 
could not long be tided over. 

Despite legal enactments, the colonial paper money 
sank lower and lower, until it was finally worth only 
the value of the actual cash deposit covering this 
wretched currency, in the Banco Espanol. The sol- 
diers and army contractors would no longer receive 
the paper money at face value, more especially since 
their accounts were many months in arrears. 

122 



Spain's Financial Condition 

To consolidate her debts, including notes raised 
during the ten years' war on the Spanish bank in 
Havana, and to convert the remainder of the six per 
cent Cuban bonds raised in 1886, Spain in 1890 cre- 
ated thirty-five millions sterling nominal of Cuban 
five per cent redeemable bonds. Both these issues, 
Cuban bonds so called, were not raised for use in the 
colony, but for the benefit of the Imperial treasury, 
though they were guaranteed by the proceeds of the 
Cuban customs and by all the revenues of the Cuban 
treasury, — Imperial liabilities coolly saddled upon the 
colony. But the conditions were so unfavorable 
that the government succeeded only in consolidating 
the floating debt and war notes with seven millions 
sterling of the new bonds ; and the conversion of the 
'86 bonds could not be carried out. I have shown 
in a previous chapter, how the insurrection had been 
precipitated by the introduction of the sham Abar- 
zuza reforms, to satisfy certain capitalists, who had 
refused to accept Spain's mortgage of Cuba unless 
self-government were instituted to insure peace, and 
thus the value of their security. When the insur- 
rection broke out in February, 1895, one million 
sterling of the '86 bonds and the unused twenty- 
seven million sterling of the '90 issue lay unused in 
reserve. The Cortes authorized the government to 
use these bonds, and from March, 1895, to July, '96, 
$64,625,300 was realized from sale of bonds, and 
cash advances made by Spanish and foreign banks, 
covered only by a deposit of the bonds to an equiva- 

123 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

lent of the amount. As the revolution spread, and 
an extension of the advances was asked, a lien on 
Imperial sources of revenue was demanded and given 
to the banks. The '86 bonds sold at 101.70 in 
August, '95; in February, '96, they realized 94. 
The five per cent bonds of '90 opened at 89.50 and 
dropped to 86 in December, '95. The Spanish 
Transatlantic Steamship Company accepted bonds at 
80.23 for transporting troops to Cuba. The Hispano 
Colonial Bank of Barcelona accepted the '90 bonds 
at 71.95 to cover their advances to the Imperial 
treasury. The Banco Espanol and other banks also 
accepted these securities with varying limitations. 
By September, '96, all the bonds were sold or 
pledged; their proceeds were almost exhausted, and 
the government found they would experience stupen- 
dous difficulty in raising fresh funds. 

The Bank of Spain then demanded a lien on the 
Spanish Custom House as a guarantee for their ad- 
vances. The Banque de Paris et Pays Bas refused 
to renew the bonds it had received. Not only was 
war in Cuba increasing, but the Philippine insurrec- 
tion was also raging. An interior loan at 5 per cent 
guaranteed by the Peninsular customs was author- 
ized by the Cortes to meet the crisis. It realized 
372,000,000 pesetas ($72,019,200). This loan was 
quickly absorbed in reimbursements and current 
expenses, but the bonds given as guarantees to the 
banks were released. 

The 3^ear 1897 opened with a paltiy balance of 
124 



Spain's Financial Condition 

$1,576,721.96 from the loan, and the surplus Cuban 
bonds were then quoted at low and still sinking 
prices. By the summer all was gone. The expendi- 
ture of the Cuban war alone was costing $10,500,000 
per month; and, only by heroic effort, non-payment 
of pensions and wages of civil servants and soldiers 
at home and abroad, and by deferring the payment 
of army contractors, the Imperial treasury managed 
to just sustain the struggle: the crisis was rapidly 
approaching, when General Blanco arrived in Cuba. 
The financial condition was unsupportable. Even 
had the government in Madrid authorized unlimited 
taxation in the Peninsula, the expenses of past loans 
and the meeting of liabilities would have swallowed 
up any amount that could have been raised from the 
overburdened people. 

War with the United States delayed the crash. It 
stirred the patriotism of the burdened Spaniards to 
make fresh effort, and stilled the claims of long- 
suffering creditors. Spain is still deeply involved, 
and even with the repudiation of the Cuban debt can 
hardly be solvent. Had the United States not inter- 
vened in Cuba, the financial crisis ^ would have be- 



1 The Spanish Minister of Finance has now accepted the Cuban 
and Philippine debts, thus raising the national debt to 380,000,000 
sterling. He reduces the interest on the debts, however, by forty 
and thirty-five per cent, respectively. Even this leaves a permanent 
deficit of eight millions sterling per annum in the Revenue. Reduc- 
tion of interest on national bonds held in Spain may aid this 
deficit a little. By a revised income tax, a succession duty, and 
surtaxes on existing imposts, he hopes to cover the residue ; but 

125 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

come acute long ere this ; and even if the island were 
not relinquished to the Cubans, the army could not 
have been sustained there, and active operations 
against the rebels must have ceased. Thoughtful 
Spaniards may well sigh, "Pobre Espana;" but the 
unfortunate country is but reaping as she sowed. 

Spain's solvency cannot be possible until the cessation of the 
colonial drain of the past four years has proved reactive. 



126 



CHAPTER VI 

A Trip across Cuba. — Rejection of Autonomy. — Cross- 
ing THE Spanish Lines. — A Devastating Column. — 
A Night of Horror. — The Attack on Esperanza. 

The President in his December INIessage asked 
Congress to allow Spain time to test the efficacy of 
autonomy in restoring peace to Cuba. Many friends 
of the islanders realized that the reforms were futile. 
In '95 autonomy might have been applied as a 
national prophylactic for rebellion; Weylerism had 
made the disease chronic, and ultimate death to Span- 
ish sovereignty inevitable. It was evident, from the 
attitude of the Cuban leaders, that compromise was 
too late. Despite the blows dealt their cause, the 
robust energy of their faith, and hope, which Voltaire 
says is God's greatest gift to man, had sustained them 
through the past, and would sustain them until their 
penultimate object — the withdrawal of Spain — was 
accomplished. 

The situation was anomalous, — the Spanish legions 
could not subdue the colonials, neither could the lat- 
ter expel the legions by force of arms. But endur- 
ance in the end would win the day; fever, food, and 
finance presented problems that must sooner or later 
overwhelm the Spanish army. But from Spanish 

127 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

sources roseate reports of impending disintegration, 
colored by the surrender of a few Avar-worn patriots, 
led many in authority to believe the end of Cuba's 
struggle by the general acceptance of autonomy, was 
approaching. 

Senators and congressmen were discussing the 
matter in Washington. Upon the success or failure 
of autonomy, the whole question of intervention and 
almost certain war with Spain rested. It was sug- 
gested to a certain journalist that he should visit the 
Cuban leaders and ascertain their exact attitude. He 
declined, and then my name was suggested for the 
mission. Far more competent men would have been 
glad to go, but previous knowledge of the country 
was essential for success. Mr. Henj^^ Norman in 
London, and Mr. Hearst in New York were keenly 
interested in the issue, and warmly commended the 
mission to determine if the insurgents would or 
would not accept autonomy, and if there were any 
disposition of the under leaders and men to surrender. 

Upon receipt of a cipher message in Havana in 
December, I first applied for a pass from the Spanish 
authorities, pointing out that as they were unable to 
send envoys to the field, the actual attitude of the 
rebels, of extreme moment to them, might be ob- 
tained by issuing me a permit to cross their lines. 
Knowing full well the firm attitude of the rebels, 
and not unnaturally wishing to hide the truth from 
the United States, that permission was refused, but 
without comment. I had anticipated this, and two 
- 128 



Rejection of Autonomy 

days later I started on my mission in Pinar del 
Rio. 

I will not enter into details of my journey through 
the West, as I wish to deal more fully with my 
trip through less known districts across the Trocha. 
Sufficient to say that all leaders were absolutely 
against compromise, and after some trials and adven- 
tures, I obtained, both by courier and personal inter- 
view, the signed statements of all Cubans of note in 
Las Villas and Occidente, rejecting in every detail 
the autonomy offered by Spain. In the division of 
the West, Pinar del Rio and Havana, General Ro- 
driguez, the respective chiefs of his brigades, General 
Betencourt and his commanders in Matanzas, General 
Maximo Gomez, Miguel Gomez, Carrillo and Robau 
in Santa Clara, and all subordinate officers in their 
respective commands, attested their solemn deter- 
mination to continue the fight until Spain relin- 
quished the island. " Independence or Death " was 
the universal motto, and in Havana and Matanzas 
divisions it seemed that death was more likely to 
claim the rebel force before victory was theirs. They 
were in a pitiful condition, ragged and absolutely 
starving. December was an exceptionally cold month, 
and pneumonia made sad ravages among the emaci- 
ated patriots. But recruits constantly slipped out 
through the barriers, and when General Rodriguez 
read to his assembled command his rejection of 
autonomy, loud "Vivas!" were raised, and it was 
evident that the leaders and men of superior in- 
9 129 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

telligence were not alone in the determination to 
fight on to the bitter end. I had finished the first 
half of my journey on January 1st, in Las Villas. 
r To reach eastern Cuba from Santa Clara, the great 
Trocha had to be crossed. Finding the trip by land 
fraught with difficulty, I took the more devious 
route, passing round it by sea. On January 3, 
1898, I safely entered Nue vitas to take the train for 
Puerto Principe City. My boatman smuggled saddle 
and riding outfit ashore that night. I had registered 
at the Hotel Telegrafo under an assumed name. 
The proprietor, a Cuban Spaniard born in New 
York, was a lieutenant in the Spanish service, but 
an ardent patriot at heart. I soon learned that the 
authorities in Havana had cabled the commanders 
of various ports to frustrate my mission, and a celador 
of police visited the hotel that night after I had re- 
tired, to make inquiry into my identity; but mine 
host assured him that I was the engineer of a Minas 
sugar-estate, and he retired satisfied. 

There was an American prisoner under guard in 
the hotel, who was to leave in the morning. My 
curiosity was aroused, and I soon learned that it Avas 
Colonel Funston, commander of Garcia's Artillery, 
who had been captured at Minas a few days previ- 
ous. He was fortunately without arms; thin and 
emaciated by a long campaign, he did not seem an 
important prisoner. The officers searched him care- 
fully, and finding nothing upon him, concluded that 
he was a deserter, and sent him to General Latorre in 

130 



Colonel Funston 

Nue vitas. Had they known that the man in their 
hands was the redoubtable American artillerist, who 
had virtually shelled Spain from the interior of San- 
tiago, he would have fared badly; but he was sent to 
the consul at Caibarien on the following day, on con- 
dition that he should leave Cuba. He was under 
close surveillance, and I did not attempt to com- 
municate with him, since it might have compromised 
us both. He weighed but ninety-five pounds then, 
and I feared he was going home to die. We met again 
at Tampa in the following June. He then wore the 
uniform of Colonel of United States Volunteers. "1 
do not believe in giving commissions to such small 
men; they do not inspire the respect of their 
troops," remarked an officer one day as Funston 
passed. His opinion may have been altered since 
by the continued dash and bravery of that officer 
at the head of his Kansas regiment in the Philip- 
pines, and his promotion on the field to Brigadier- 
General for his gallant services. 

The insurgents were strong in Puerto Principe, 
Consequently but one train per week ran from Nue- 
vitas to the inland capital, Puerto Principe City, 
though that railroad furnished sole means of com- 
munication with the outside world. General Pando 
was in the town, holding a conference with Generals 
Castellanos and Latorre, and evidently important 
operations were pending. The hotel was crowded 
with officers, and I had to keep close in a fusty little 
chamber to escape their demand for cedula and pass- 

131 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

ports. I was relieved to liear that a train left on the 
second morning. 

Punctually at six A. M. we pulled out. The Amer- 
ican cars were moving forts, each cased in loopholed 
sheets of iron. A company of soldiers marched be- 
yond the engine, prodding the track with long poles 
for dynamite. Other companies were posted in for- 
tified freight-cars, and a rough dining-car was fixed 
in the centre of the corridor, as the journey of sev- 
enty miles might take that number of hours. 

On the trip I met a young captain of commissary, 
a Cuban of Irish descent, named O'Reilly, who had 
entered the military supply service before the war, 
and continued to hold his position, since it entailed 
no hostile act against Cuba, and his resignation or 
desertion to the insurgents would have led to re- 
prisals against his family, living on an estate at 
Minas. 

The railway runs for forty miles through dense 
woods and swamp, after which the country becomes 
clearer, and Principe City stands in the centre of a 
vast savannah. We were keeping a sharp lookout 
for insurgents ; the train fairly crawling through the 
woods, as frequent attempts were made to blow up 
the troop cars. This seems reprehensible warfare, 
though either the engine or troop cars were always 
the objective, and passenger cars were spared. By 
thus attacking the line of communications, the Span- 
iards were forced to employ thousands of men to 
guard the tracks and trains, and consequently had 

132 



Our Train Attacked 

less strength to employ in the field. Singularly the 
largest stockholders in this particular railway were 
Cubans then in the manigua, and they were con- 
stantly destroying their own property, to prevent the 
enemy's use of the same. 

Some twenty miles from Nue vitas a sliot rang 
out. I ran to the outer platform of the car and saw 
our advance-guard tearing back toward the train, 
dragging, the body of one of their number. From 
the dense underbrush dropping shots came thick and 
fast, though not a leaf stirred. The troops in the 
armored cars were now replying vigorously, the train 
pulled up with a jerk, and the guard tumbled aboard. 
The limp body was handed up with scant ceremony, 
but the poor boy was already dead. 

The fire was too hot to stand exposed, and I with- 
drew inside. The Mausers crashed regularly, and 
above them rang out staccatoed detonations of the 
Cubans' Remingtons, while the bullets slashed an- 
grily against the iron facings of the cars, and rang 
on the metal fittings, like the bull's-eye shots in a 
Coney Island shooting-gallery. The Cubans soon 
realized the futility of wasting fire on such defences, 
and did not shoot long after the guard had gained 
cover. Then w^e could see the glint of machetes in 
the trees, and the Spaniards yelled that the mambis 
Tv^ere charging. I quietly seized my things, thinking 
if the Cubans rushed the train I could go back with 
them. A few only broke cover, yelling like fiends ; 
the leader fell. To charge in face of such a fi.re was 

133 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

suicide, and they wheeled and disappeared in the 
forest. 

It was evening when we reached our destination, 
and, thanks only to my friend the captain, did I get 
through the station unquestioned, for at every turn 
the secret police scrutinize strangers, opening their 
parcels and searching their clothes for insurgent 
papers. I was carrying several private letters to 
leaders in the field, and a note to a lawyer. Dr. Prada, 
a member of the local Junta, who had been sentenced 
to imprisonment for life by Weyler and reprieved by 
his successor. A friend gave me a trustworthy guide 
to carry me to the house, and in due time I reached 
a handsome residence, was presented to a comfortable 
matron, the Seriora Prada, and in turn to her three 
vivacious daughters. 

" Their house and they were at my disposition, and 
the senor would be in soon." With feminine inquisi- 
tiveness the good lady tried deftly to elicit the pur- 
port of my visit, the girls chatted nineteen to the 
dozen, and I made myself very much at home. We 
discussed the situation, I with great freedom. Later 
a young son entered. Wishing to air the only Eng- 
lish he knew, he remarked unappropriately : " Spanish 
vera good, Cuban no vera good, me Spanish! " This 
was a revelation, and put me on my guard ; I retired 
shortly after, promising to see the senor later, and 
returned to my friend for explanation. 

"Bobo! Sin Verguenza! " he exclaimed angrily, 
"why, he took you to the house of Colonel Prada. 

134 



Doctor Prada 

I congratulate you, amigo, that the colonel was out. 
Had you delivered the letter you would have now 
been in jail, and who could tell the end ? The colo- 
nel is not a bad man, and his wife is muy simpatico; 
but then his clear duty to Spain ? " 

Later he guided me in person to the man I sought. 
I found Dr. Prada an exceedingly intelligent gentle- 
man. Though under surveillance and but recently 
released from horrible imprisonment, he was still 
allied to the cause. His brother, a graduate of an 
American college, joined us later, and they formu- 
lated plans by which I could reach the field. ^ 

1 Of the hundreds of correspondents who have visited Cuba but -^ 
few have actually passed to the field. George Eugene Bryson was 
with Maceo, under the Campos regime. Dr. Shaw Bowen, guided 
by the son of the British Consul at Santiago, interviewed Maceo 
on a neutral sugar-estate. Charles Michaelson visited Havana 
Province in 1896, and was imprisoned and expelled by Weyler. 
Grover Flint, I believe, was the only correspondent to cross the 
Trocha into Camaguey. Scovel and Rea witnessed the western 
invasion. Thomas Dawley spent some weeks in the field, and was 
ten times arrested. Cro^y was killed by Gomez' side during the 
battle of Santa Teresa on March 9^ '97. Karl Decker made a 
daring and difficult trip to Gomez. Frederick Somerford, one of 
the bravest if least pretentious, has travelled again and again 
through Havana Province at critical periods, and has thrice visited 
Gomez for the " Herald." The son of Judge Govin, late U. S. Consul 
at Leghorn, landed in Cuba on July 2, 1896, representing a news 
syndicate. He was captured on July 9 by a Spanish column under 
Colonel Ochoa at Correderas. The colonel tore up his American 
passports, the unarmed prisoner was bound and macheted in 
regulation form. Melton, the western writer, was captured on the 
" Competitor," off the Cuban coast. He was first sentenced to death, 
and lay two years in a Cabanas dungeon. Released in Novem- 
ber, '97, by General Blanco, he emerged a physical wreck, pre- 
maturely aged by his terrible experience. Count Dirizia, an 

135 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

The difficulties of passing the Trocha debarred cor- 
respondents from the eastern provinces. The condi- 
tions in Camaguey and Oriente were as an unknown 
book, though the insurgents were better organized 
there than in any other part of the island. 

Puerto Principe, of some 40,000 inhabitants, is a 
typically Cuban city. Shut in closely by forts and 
barricades, and practically besieged by the insurgents, 
small new^s travelled fast. I discovered that my ad- 
vent had been passed in strict confidence from mouth 

Italian military correspondent of note, attached to the Spanish 
army, sought to pass to the insurgent lines near the Trocha, and 
was recaptured and held for two years as a spy. He was finally 
deported to Spain, and I had a heartbroken letter from him last 
July, dated Montjuich Fortress and stating that he was still held 
without trial. Frederick Hughes, artist correspondent of "Black 
and White," visited the field, as a guest of the military commander 
of Pinar del Rio. Later, however, he was robbed and maltreated by 
guerillas, and reached Havana in a pitiful condition. Singularly, 
he was refused aid at the British Consulate. I had been with 
Huglies in Africa and Madeira, but was in hiding at the time, and 
without money or friends the poor fellow perished miserably of 
starvation in the streets of Havana. The British Representa- 
tive reported to the Foreign Office that Mr. Hughes's death was 
certified from natural causes by the municipal doctor, and, from the 
fact that a dollar was found upon the body, he disposed of the 
starvation theory. " Hambre ! " the morgue doctor had said to 
Senor Pichardo ; hunger also had killed the other attenuated corpses 
on the slabs, but " Heart Disease " was entered on all such 
certificates. The Consul-General did not state that the dollar in 
Hughes's pocket was of Weyler's waste paper. Mr. Call, of the 
Scripps-McRae League, made a perilous trip to Camaguey in a 
small boat. George Reno, whose daring work in sustaining com- 
munications between the Cubans and New York is well known, 
may also be mentioned in the category. War correspondents 
who visited the rebel army received little clemency from Spain. 
Personally I have no cause for complaint. 

136 



A Spanish Swashbuckler 

to mouth until half the town knew of it, and the 
authorities would assuredly get some inkling ere- 
long. On the street also I met Captain Baccalo, 
who, as a swashbuckling subaltern, had been deputed 
to uphold the honor of the Spanish army, impugned 
by an article of mine in a British military paper. 
His insults to evoke an acceptance of his challenges 
to mortal combat were so tiresome that I had been 
forced to cool his ardor some weeks before by thrash- 
ing him in the Tacon cafe, in answer to his loud- 
voiced remarks on the cowardice of the foreign pigs 
wdio feared to duel. My companion and myself were 
then set upon by all the officers in the place, some 
drawing their swords, and only prompt intervention 
of a colonel of Weyler's staff had saved us from their 
fury. This colonel courteously apologized for his 
compatriots, but Baccalo swore to be revenged, and 
later Mr. Decker, with a chair in his stalwart arm, 
held off some friends of the gallant captain, who 
attacked us on Teniente Bey. Fearful of a scene 
now in Principe, I averted my face, and passed 
quickly onward; but the captain turned suspiciously, 
and I felt that he recognized me. My hotel-keeper, a 
rabid Spaniard, was a suspicious knave, and watched 
me closely, while I was also shadowed by the omni- 
present sleuths. It was imperative that I should 
strike out at once with my papers. I walked to my 
room, telling the waiter not to disturb me, and bolted 
the door. A stealthy jump from the back window 
landed me into an adjoining yard, and I soon had 

137 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

my effects in a Cuban butcher's house. A patriotic 
milkman, who served the outlying forts, put every- 
thing in his panniers, crossed the barrier on his usual 
rounds, and dropped the stuff in a bush near the out- 
posts. For thus risking his libert}^, he refused to 
accept a cent. 

I had that morning ridden with Captain O'Reilly 
beyond the defences, and Avith a bold face I again 
passed through the same embrasure, unquestioned by 
the guards. I lay trembling under the bush where I 
found my effects ; the cover was scanty, and risk of 
capture imminent. The air was fragrant with per- 
fume of flowers, wafted from the glorious gardens in 
the outskirts, and gradually a sombre veil seemed 
drawn over the brilliant scenery; the distant hills 
turned from emerald to purple, and then died away 
as dusk crept up stealthily. The moon ascended 
even as the sun disappeared. The wait had seemed 
eternity; but the sunset bugles now rang out, the 
sweet strains of the " Ave Maria " stole across from 
the little chapel, deep-toned chimes boomed from 
the cathedral, and the nocturnal buzzing of the in- 
sects heralded the approaching night. 

Then I heard a bird-like whistle, and my guide 
crept up. True to his word, Senor Prada had ar- 
ranged everything. This muscular practico, a Co- 
lumbian by birth, shouldered my pack, and we crept 
fearfully forward toward the forts. It was then pitch 
dark, the campfires at the outposts gleamed fitfully ; 
a cavalry patrol clattered noisily toward us, but we 

138 



Crossing the Lines 

crouched unseen in the grass, and they passed on. 
Then we reached the wire barricade and patrol road, 
intersected with forts, passing round the city, 

Tlie silent form of a sentinel loomed up not ten 
yards from us, and we lay quiet until he resumed his 
march. On the left a group of soldiers were gam- 
bling, the pale light of the campfire playing on their 
swarthy faces. Another sentry approached and forced 
a second halt. Then again we crawled on through 
the long wet grass until water gleamed below. " Care- 
ful, Senor! Not a sound!" warned my guide; 
and we cautiously waded in, sinking deeper and 
deeper. We were soon swimming ; the practico with 
my bag, fortunately waterproof, on his back. A 
whining " Sentinela Alerta ! " rose from the opposite 
bank. "Alerta!" echoed another sentry nearer yet, 
and I fitfully imagined the volleys that would ring 
out if we were discovered, and the story of some 
heroic engagement that would be colored by our dead 
bodies on the morrow; but we passed the lines at 
last, and waded to land, some distance beyond the 
forts. 

There was one spot now where ambushes were fre- 
quently thrown out to intercept the insurgents pass- 
ing down the disused highroad toward the outposts. 
The Columbian reconnoitred it. Again his reassur- 
ing whistle, and we pressed hurriedly along the 
camino, past once beautiful estates, until a clump of 
royal palms was reached. A bird-like chirrup greeted 
us, the guide answered, and then I descried two fig- 

139 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

ures on horseback silently awaiting our approach. 
" Los Cubanos ! " said my guide ; and I soon made 
out the familiar jip-jap hat and white uniform of the 
Cuban cavalry. The rebel vedette lent me a mule, 
and we rode out to the chief of the zona. Our coming 
was unexpected, and as the loud challenge rang out, 
twenty forms seemed to spring from the ground. I 
was a little ahead, and glanced down the barrels of 
loaded rifles covering me, until the guards came up 
and explained matters. 

"You are very brave, my friend, to cross those 
lines ! " said the captain commanding the zona, agno- 
mened Canon, as he warmly greeted me; but my 
trembling hand belied it, and I was more than re- 
lieved to find myself safe at last within the Cuban 
outposts. 

Before us stretched the vast forest, in the dark 
vistas of which the sun never penetrated ; behind lay 
the plain I had just crossed. The half moon was 
partially obscured, but a dark arcade on the edge of 
the woods was illuminated by a blazing log fire hiss- 
ing with the night dew that dripped from branches 
above. Around it moved a group of rebels, their 
very surroundings making them brigand-like. They 
crowded round to hear the news, but Canon came to 
my relief, saying I was tired and needed rest. I had 
brought a hammock and canopy, which two asistentes 
fixed, and I turned in. 

" Surely this is a land of milk and honey ! " I 
thought, when I awoke to find a breakfast of sweet- 

140 



Insurgent Headquarters 

ened coffee, plantains, a roll, and fresh beef cooked 
on the parilla, awaiting me. I learned, later, that the 
luxuries formed the greater part of a repast sent for 
the special delectation of the commandante, but un- 
selfishly apportioned to me in that courtesy which is 
the unfailing attribute of every true Cuban I met. 

At an early hour an orderly had ridden over to 
headquarters with the report of the previous day. I 
here witnessed a military organization impossible in 
the troop-ridden west. Round Principe and other 
points held by Spain, regular Cuban zonas were 
established that prevented the egress of any small 
force, and harassed large columns that marched out 
until warning had reached headquarters and the army 
prepared for the attack. 

At midday the orderly returned with general 
orders, one of which directed Lieutenant Betencouit 
to provide a horse for the stranger that had entered 
the lines, and selecting efficient escort to bring him 
with every care to the " Cuartel General." 

We set off without delay through a well-wooded 
country, intersected with large plains of magnificent 
grass that rose over our horses' heads. Fording sev- 
eral rivers, and passing delightful cocoanut groves, 
we rode through winding trails for twelve miles, 
when the picquet halted us. It was then six o'clock, 
and the sudden roll of horse-drums awoke the echoes, 
and the inspiriting strains of the Cuban national 
hymn rose through the trees. Victor Pacheco's band 
of the crack regiment of Camaguey cavalry is not 

141 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

pretentious, but on that cool tropical evening the 
distant music was as sweet as the siren's delusive 
melodies that caused Ulysses to wax his ears. As 
we rode toward General Recio's pavilion, the sol- 
diers who had swarmed from their rude quarters to 
hear the music, threw up their hats as we passed, 
with loud vivas for the strange officer. 

General L(Opez Recio received me at once. I de- 
livered my papers and messages, and received a cor- 
dial welcome. We sat and talked, long after silencio 
had sounded, and the camp sunk to sleep, and at a 
late hour I crawled under my own bit of canvas and 
turned in. 

It was still dark when " El Diana " rang out, the 
sweet reveille admirably sounded by the trumpeters 
aided by cornets of the band, which then struck up 
a lively galop entitled "Al Machete." A heavy 
miasma hung over everything; the moon, trying to 
pierce the dampness, made one vast spot of translu- 
cent vapor in the white cloud. In wide avenues 
opening through the forest, campfires of the army 
gleamed through the mist, forms of the soldiers who 
had emerged from their palm-leaf huts to cook a 
frugal meal, being faintly discernible. The general's 
orderly brought me coffee and camp-made cigarettes. 
It was growing rapidly lighter, and finally the sun 
rose like a huge red fire-balloon, mounting slowly 
above the trees. Gaining strength, its rays effectively 
dispelled the mists and dried off the dripping country 
with incredible rapidity. 

142 



Redo and his Staff 

General Recio, a wealthy planter before the war, 
was a brave and capable officer. His delicate wife, 
whom I had met in Havana prison a year before, 
suffering for her relationship, had just managed to 
reach the field to join her husband. He had secured 
her the safest place possible in a distant prefect's 
house, but he felt her risks and privations and the 
separation from his family keenly. The long struggle 
had made him taciturn, and war was eminently dis- 
tasteful to him. Yet the mention of autonomy made 
his eyes flash. He had never looked for American 
intervention, and evinced no surprise when I showed 
him the President's message. " We have but one life 
to give to Cuba," he remarked sadly, "and that may 
be expended in vain, but this generation must give 
it willingly to free their country for future ages." 

His staff were all men of wealth and education, 
most of them exceedingly young. I especially recall 
Doctor Clark, a surgeon of English descent. Majors 
Bazan and Delmonte, and Captain Arostigui, brother 
to the British proconsul in Havana. Singularly also 
the brigadier of this command, General Bernabe San- 
chez, was formerly British Consul at Nuevitas. He 
had been badly wounded just before my arrival and 
sent to New York for treatment. 

The sun is unbearable in the manigua from ten 
until two, and the camp was drowsily resting in the 
shade. The bright young lawyer, the chief of judi- 
ciary, whose name I have forgotten, was under my 
canvas, initiating me into the mysteries of Cuban law. 

143 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Bazan came over and advised a photograph of the 
Escolta, and when I promised to take it on the mor- 
row, he said significantly, "Manana sera otre dia." 
And at that moment a solitary horseman galloped 
into camp, drew up before General Recio, and salut- 
ing gravely, said, " El enemigo ! " Some one echoed 
his words, and, as if by magic, the camp was infused 
with life. 

"The enemy! The enemy! " shouted the troopers. 
The bugler of the guard sounded the alarm. " Boots 
and saddles " followed, and then "General assembly." 

Within five minutes the cavalry had struck camp 
and formed up, staff officers galloped off to report 
the strength and disposition of the Spaniards, and 
the long line of ragged infantry was moving for- 
ward, laughing and chatting glibly as they marched. 
When the columns did move out in Camaguey, they 
came prepared to fight; the Cubans were too strong 
to permit any of the tactics employed in the west, 
and there were no towns for the soldiers to crawl 
into each night before sunset. 

The chief of staff gave me a serviceable horse, and 
I was instructed to go with Colonel Molina, com- 
manding the infantry. Delmonte joined us later, 
and then, to my chagrin, I learned that Molina was 
only to act as rear guard with the impedimenta, and 
see that supplies were pushed up to the force. His 
orders were to give me a practico and escort, and 
facilitate my journey to the insurgent government at 
Esperanza. As that was the object of my visit, I 

144 



Colonel Molina 

could not complain, much as I regretted the lost 
opportunity of witnessing a fight of fair proportions. 

Molina ^ was an interesting companion, and we rode 
several miles together to a prefectura from which I 
was to start on my journey as soon as possible. 
Cuban-born, he had accepted a commission in the 
Chilian army, and attained the rank of major, when 
he resigned and returned to Cuba to fight. With a 
practical military training, he was speedily promoted 
to colonel of infantry. He used the regulation kit 
of Chili, which I was surprised to see equalled the 
most approved equipment of Europe. 

I was fretting with impatience in the prefect's 
house, having decided to secure my guide and ride 
toward the combat; but not until next morning could 
we start, and adjudging it too late to overtake the 
general, we headed for the Government. After a 
ride of thirty-two miles, we off-saddled for the night 



1 Molina has a sister as fearless as himself. On several occa- 
sions she collected medicines for the sick, and travelled boldly 
down to Minas, where, from a sugar-estate, the insurgents could 
slip in and secure them. Travelling on one occasion from 
Nuevitas, the officer of the train-guard questioned her closely as to 
the contents of her trunk. Without making direct reply, the 
spirited young lady held out her keys, saying, "If you suspect 
me search it." The Spanish officer is invariably gallant, and would 
usually refuse to doubt such inference, but this captain took 
the keys and turned the lock. " You dog ! you would search 
a lady's trunk in face of her assertion. Lock that box ! " shouted 
a gray-haired old colonel travelling in the same car. That box 
contained lint, bandages, instruments, and drugs, all contrabands 
of war ; but the trembling girl was saved, and the supplies in the 
Fonsecca Hospital near Najaza are the result of her achievement. 
10 145 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

in an old cattle-shed, and made the best meal pos- 
sible of plantains, and it was just after midnight 
when the practico's stentorian voice sent me spring- 
ing from my hammock. 

"Alto! Quien va?" 

" Cuba ! " was the prompt response from the ap- 
proaching party. One advanced and gave the coun- 
tersign, and then a fjarty of scouts rode up. " Be on 
your guard. Castellanos with a strong column is 
marching to attack the Government. The force ad- 
vancing south Avas a blind to draw off the general; 
they too have now wheeled, and are making a forced 
march to rejoin the main body," they said, as they 
galloped on to spread a general alarm and hurry for- 
ward all outlying divisions. 

This was news indeed, welcome and unwelcome. 
After all, we were in the path of the fight, and were 
even ahead of Recio, who was not apprised of the 
feint until he had lost a day. We rode hard next 
morning, keeping to winding side -trails, and avoid- 
ing the highroad leading from Puerto Principe to 
Moron on the north coast, along which the Spaniards 
were advancing. 

We camped after sunset on a loma, loosening our 
saddle-girths and tying our horses near. Not daring 
to light a fire, we went hungry. In a camp of four, 
and a country swarming with the enemy, the feeling 
of loneliness and uncertainty is depressing, and we 
turned in early, posting guards at an hourly relief. 
About seven o'clock a sudden glare in the sky about 

146 



A Night Raid 

a mile distant aroused us, and the cracking of rifles 
and loud yells and shouts were borne over on the 
cool night air. The enemy at last! 

We mounted and rode cautiously toward the firing. 
The practico led us through devious trails, the glare 
appearing one moment in front, then on our right or 
behind; but he was never at fault, and we finally 
came to the edge of a wood bordering a vast savan- 
nah. A stream was before us, and beyond it the 
Spaniards. Crouching in the underbrush, we could 
see everything plainly. The soldiers had halted on 
the highroad near two plantations. Both charming 
residencias were blazing fiercely, a plot of cane in 
rear was also alight, and the scene was thus as bright 
as day. The soldiers ran fiercely to and fro, waving 
firebrands, like imps of darkness, in the brilliant 
glare. Five hapless prisoners — an aged Cuban lady, 
a girl of perhaps seventeen, a sturdy boy, and two 
negro women — were brought out and taken to the 
rear. 

The cane burned furiously, and the heat forced 
out a white man and two negroes hiding therein. 
They made a wild dash for liberty, but volleys rang 
out, and two dropped, while one gained the road and 
disappeared. But the white man, an old retainer, 
sprang up again and continued his flight, though 
wounded. The soldiers shot at him wildly, and we 
could scarce forbear a cheer as he sprang at the fence 
with an agility born of fear. The woods were close, 
but he missed his footing and rolled back, scrambled 

147 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

up again, and was all but over as the foremost sol- 
diers sprang at him. Two machetes glinted in the 
firelight, and he fell back with a thud. 

Several outhouses and homes of the farm workers 
were now blazing, and then we saw an example of 
the crass superstition of the Spaniard. Before each 
house in outlying districts of Cuba where churches 
are few, a plain wooden cross is erected. To pre- 
vent ignition, soldiers were stationed at each, to 
pour water over the sacred emblem. Yet before 
that cross they could burn homes, loot, and com- 
mit unspeakable excesses, upon the very people 
whose hands had fashioned it as sanctifying their 
residence. 

We watched this pitiful scene of destruction until 
the flames died out, and the soldiers, selecting cows 
from the looted stock, prepared supper and camp for 
the night. Then we crept back to our horses, and 
pushed ahead toward the Government. 

The district north of Puerto Principe is fertile ; and 
though the lack of railroads is an insuperable draw- 
back to the production of sugar for export, charming 
" centrals " abounded, and immense farms for cattle- 
raising occupied the glorious savannahs. The Span- 
iards held but two towns in the interior, and three 
beside Nue vitas on the coast. Consequently there 
had been no attempt at reconcentration except in the 
vicinity of those places; and shut off entirely from 
the west by the Trocha, the interior of the eastern 
provinces was Free Cuba to all intents and purposes. 

148 



Spanish Duplicity 

The inhabitants dwelt on their farms or in the little 
Cuban villages as before the war. 

The Spaniards were now laying waste the most 
fertile and populous district of Camaguey. General 
Blanco and his Government in Madrid had assured 
the civilized world, not two weeks before, that there 
should be no further destruction of property, their 
desire being to build up Cuba, and inspire the people 
with confidence that they should return to their 
homes. The Presidential message that asked Con- 
gress to give time to Spain was hinged on this very 
clause, and in treacherous duplicity here were Wey- 
ler's tactics religiously followed. 

On a by-path in the Espinosa district we soon 
overtook fugitives warned of the enemy's approach 
by the blaze of burning houses. They had dashed 
from their homes, thinking the soldiers were upon 
them, and when they found we were friends, they 
embraced us as deliverers. 

It had rained heavily the day before, and the road 
was a quagmire in which delicate Cuban ladies in 
their night-clothes waded to their knees. An old 
man suffering from fever fell by the roadside; a 
pretty girl of sixteen threw herself on his • breast, 
weeping bitterly, and exclaiming, " Padre mio ! " She 
was scantily dressed, having in her haste donned a 
tiny pair of satin shoes, relics of city balls before the 
war, and then been forced to fly in her undergar- 
ments. I wrapped my coat round her, and allayed 
their fears by assuring them that the Spaniards had 

149 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

halted. Some of the men returned with us to two 
unpretentious houses deserted near by, and we seized 
all the clothes and food we could, and rode back 
rapidly to the fugitives. Behind a bush we found 
one woman crazed with terror, and clasping convul- 
sively to her breast a girl of twelve who had escaped 
quite nude. A young English girl, daughter of the 
resident engineer of the Sanchez estate, who had 
remained in the interior with friends, dragged one 
bedridden member of the family nearly a mile. 

After cutting a way through the bush to a safe 
retreat* for the refugees, and making several trips, 
carrying the women on our horses, we masked the 
gap against chance discovery, and rode on, promis- 
ing to send pacificos to help them into a more com- 
fortable haven in the morning. Later we met a scout 
who reported that Recio was then riding hard with 
the cavalry, to overtake the enemy, who had two days' 
start, leaving the infantry to come up as speedily as 
possible. We then decided to halt until daybreak 
where the road forks to La Rosa and Moron. 

We lay in the wet grass, and I slept soundly. It 
seemed but ten minutes when the guide aroused me, 
and I found the gray dawn breaking to day. We 
were sore, hungry, and tired, when we remounted, 
and rode toward Esperanza. But the Spaniard was 
up betimes to escape the heat of the day, and smoke 
rising on our right showed that he was taking the 
other road toward Cubitas. The character of the 
country made it possible for us to keep near the 

150 



A Narrow Escape 

enemy, who invariably marched on the highroad, — 
their canvas shoes, and the risk of ambuscade, keep- 
ing them severely to beaten tracks. 

Turning our horses by a trail, discernible only to 
the practico, we rode toward San Jacinto and emerged 
on the road, ahead, but uncomfortably close to the 
Imperial troops. The people in the district had just 
been alarmed, and were hurrying out in all stages of 
dishabille to reach the prefectura, which stood back 
in the woods and could hardly be attacked. Two 
columns of smoke now rose barely half a mile behind 
us, and the fugitives from those houses came scream- 
ing down the road, fortunately all on horseback. 
They were preparing to dress when alarmed, and 
had escaped by the rear gates as the Spaniards tore 
down the fences and swarmed in the front. 

The last family caught my attention especially. 
Three children were riding a stocky pony ; a Cuban, 
evidently a planter, carried his prostrate wife in 
front on a tall gray mare that resented the double 
burden, while a girl, riding bareback, nestled a pet 
cat under the arm that held the halter, and with the 
other hand urged her parent's mount forward with a 
riding switch, calling "Papa corre!" She was ex- 
tremely prett}^ her complexion fair for a Cuban; but 
her brilliant eyes, classical features, and glossy hair 
that fell over her shoulders in glorious profusion, 
were typical of her race. " How like Miss Cisneros ! " 
I thought ; and some days later I learned they were 
first cousins. 

151 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

As we reined up, she perceived that we were 
strangers, and crimsoned with shame at her scanty 
attire, vainly trying to hide her bare feet under her 
petticoat. By so doing she dropped her pet cat ; and 
puss, with no fear of Spaniards, darted for home. 

There was no time for conversation. "Hurry, 
Senorita!" I said as we closed in behind them, for 
the road, flanked by woods here, soon passed over a 
wide savannah, which we must cross before reaching 
cover, and if the Spaniards came up we should make 
an easy target. The scout took the half-conscious 
woman before him, and by hard riding we gained the 
woods as the advance guard of the enemy broke cover 
across the plain. Wide cavalry flanks came through 
the bush and closed in, and the enemy formed into 
close column to cross the open. 

"We must check them here!" said the practico, 
I supposed in joke ; but I soon saw that he was in 
earnest, and I tried to imagine Spartans about to 
hold Thermopylae, for surely the odds, three facing 
an army corps, were greater than Leonidas against 
Xerxes. But the nonchalance of the Cubans re- 
assured me. 

For some distance the road ran parallel to the 
fringe of the woods, with some six hundred yards of 
low bush intervening. Tying our horses some dis- 
tance back, we crept forward through the trees, and 
could soon hear the Spaniards talking, the hemp 
soles making a curious shuffling as the tired hordes 
slouched along. I was trembling too much to take 

152 



The Enemy ''Held" 

aim, but blazed indiscriminately at the massed light 
uniforms that appeared a haze through the tangle. 
The practico and soldier fired steadily, changing 
their position repeatedly. Some distance down a 
Mauser and Remington "pahed" and banged alter- 
nately; and I afterwards learned that two of Gen- 
eral Roloff's aides, Captain Alfredo and Lieutenant 
Jack, a brave young American I met later, were also 
"holding the enemy." The column halted on the 
plain, as if expecting a machete charge; our ruse 
was working. We could see the force stretching 
away for over a mile. There were six battalions of 
infantry, two batteries of light artillery, a regiment 
of cavalry, and a squad of guerillas, — 12,000 in all. 
It was almost as strong an army corps as one of 
Weyler's devastating columns, and being far less 
scattered, was the most formidable Spanish force I 
saw. Castellanos had mobilized every soldier possible 
to attack the insurgent Government. But a few days 
before, a practico named Perez, court-martialled for 
theft, escaped arrest, stole a horse, and rode to Puerto 
Principe. He offered to guide the Spaniards against 
his former comrades, and Castellanos had taken ad- 
vantage of the offer. Luckily there have been few 
such traitors in Cuba, or the cause must long since 
have been lost. 

Before us some companies formed in double line, 
the front rank kneeling, and firing with rifle butts 
on the ground. Their bullets chipped the leaves off. 
the highest trees, while those in the rear fired regu- 

153 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

lar volleys that spat angrily against the trunks well 
above us. Then a shell screamed overhead and burst 
half a mile away, but others came nearer. It was 
getting too hot; the Spaniards were "held," and we 
crept to our horses and rode off through the trees. 
We CQuld hear the enemy banging away for twenty 
minutes to clear the woods of the fictitious enemy, 
and then they threw out flanks and went on again, 
later burning Pueblo Nuevo and the houses on the 
highroad to La Citia. 

This was on January the JULth, I believe, though 
the track of days is lost in the manigua. We found 
General Recio had countermarched, and was already 
near Esperanza, so we pushed our jaded horses 
toward Cubitas. A cocoanut grove made our biv- 
ouac near the little Cuban capital. The pacificos 
had torn down the roughly made bridges and thrown 
barricades on the road; but at daybreak, scouts an- 
nounced that the Spaniards were closing in. The 
Government then packed all their belongings and 
rode out of the town one hour before the attack 
began. 

A popular fiction credited President Maso with 
holding nominal office away in the wilds of the 
Cubitas mountains, hunted day and night by the 
Spaniards. His Government, however, had occu- 
pied the little town of Esperanza, renamed Agre- 
monte City after the first president of "Cuba libre," 
for eight months, dwelling in houses almost on the 
highroad. The enemy had never previously at- 

154 



The Attack upon Esperanza 

tempted to march into the heart of Camaguey, 
though the route lay on one of the best roads in 
Cuba. 

A little party of rebel infantry checked the soldiers 
at the last destroyed bridge, but thanks to the traitor 
Perez, the artillery gained a ridge near the town and 
opened fire. Thirty rounds I counted, and not one 
shell struck the place ; but the handful of men were 
finally driven from the river crossing, and fell back 
with loss, while Recio with his cavalry tried vainly 
to hold out until his infantry should arrive. Cling- 
ing to every bit of cover, the troopers replied to the 
withering volleys of the enemy, and the fight raged 
for two hours longer. Cavalry carbines are at great 
disadvantage against Mauser rifles, and gradually the 
long line of Spaniards crept forward. 

Everything portable had been carried from the 
houses to the woods ; so Recio sent troopers with fire- 
brands to various points, and at a given signal the 
torch was applied. The Cubans then fell back to a 
hill behind, where they took up a good position, and 
the enraged Spaniards rushed into the burning town, 
to be met by a withering fire that killed nine, and 
drove them back. 

By Blanco's orders, placards had been posted on 
fences and trees as the columns marched, pointing 
out the advantages of autonomy, and advising every 
one to return to the nearest town, where work and 
food would be provided. The Cubans knew little of 
the thousands then dying of starvation in the cities, 

155 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

but they placed no faith in Spain, and no one followed 
this advice. 

"Death to Spain! Death to autonomy I Long 
live Cuba free!" yelled the insurgents during the 
fight. "Long live Spain! Death to autonomy! 
Death to Cuba!" were the vituperative brickbats 
sent in reply. 

"In some things we differ. In this we agree. 
Neither Cuban nor Spaniard wants autonomy," 
rhymed a New York Cuban. And both sides cried 
down autonomy, though they would have equally 
welcomed the termination of hostilities. 

Dr. Clark dressed the wounded Cubans by the 
river, and they were either sent off through the 
woods to a hospital, or returned to fight. Recio's 
infantry arrived next day thoroughly worn out, but 
he posted his force to hold the road leading to the 
government workshops and official printing-office. 
Castellanos, apprised of the location by Perez, had 
wished to capture these talleres, and both forces took 
long-range shots at each other for two days, when 
the Spaniards started to retire. The tireless Cubans, 
though short of ammunition, harassed them every 
step of the way; their food ran out, and as they 
were obliged to forage in force instead of marching 
all day, their return to Principe became unduly 
prolonged. 



156 



CHAPTER VII 

The Insurgent Government. —President Maso. — His 
Views of the Situation. — Ministers of the Cabi- 
net. — An Offer to Spain. 

After the burning of Esperanza, I turned off to 
overtake the Government, and found them ten miles 
away, settled in Palmarito, as if nothing had trans- 
pired. Travel-stained, unshaven, and filthy, I pre- 
sented a deplorable appearance; but the ofBcials 
received me warmly, and first the Vice-President, 
then General Lacret, and finally the President, placed 
their quarters at my disposal. There were but few 
houses in this Cuban village, but they were well-built 
and commodious, the residents eagerly competing for 
the honors of hospitality. The Vice-President, with 
whom I stayed, was the guest of a charming Cuban 
family. They had but one spare bedroom, which Dr. 
Capote had insisted on relinquishing to a sick officer, 
Dr. Betencourt, while we slung our hammocks on 
the spacious veranda. But a few minutes after my 
arrival President Maso invited me to dine with him. 
I accepted with alacrity, and not wishing to lose time, 
plunged into the object of my visit. 

He at once dispelled any existent doubts as to the 
absolute rejection of Spain's autonomy by the Cubans 
in arms. The conversation was carried on entirely 

157 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

in English, for the general understood it perfectly, 
though with a limited vocabulary, and both his sec- 
retaries spoke fluently. 

"Senor Presidente," I said, "I wish to know your 
exact position regarding the autonomy offered by 
Spain. There are many in Havana who say the 
Cubans are ready to surrender, being tired of the 
war." 

"I am glad you are here," he replied; "we are 
unable to treat directly with any government, and 
shut off as we are from the outside world, we can 
now state our position through the Press. At the 
close of the ten years' war, I reluctantly gave up my 
command, accepting the terms of the Zanjon treaty 
in some degree of faith. My force was the last to 
disband, but when we surrendered to General Cam- 
pos and returned home, we found we had been 
duped. In defiance of the amnesty many officers 
were seized and killed or deported, and history re- 
cords the shameful repudiation of every clause of the 
agreement by the Madrid Government. Not one of 
the promised reforms was instituted. I protested to 
the Governor-General, and was flung into a dungeon, 
held for months without trial, and finally exiled. In 
1881, I returned to Cuba, to find affairs had gone 
from bad to worse, — the same corrupt Spaniards held 
absolute rule, and a reign of terror had been insti- 
tuted to silence all protestors by deportation with- 
out trial — always the right of the Captain-General." 

" We had some hope from the Liberals and the gen- 
158 



The President of Free Cuba 

uine reforms drafted by Senor Maura ; but when that 
bill was rejected, and in January 1895, the Abarzuza 
law was passed by the Cortes, we saw that all promise 
of reform was a sham, and we must fight. On Feb- 
ruary 23 I gathered my plantation hands together 
and proclaimed the independence of Cuba. The 
Spaniards sent me envoys offering bribes, but I 
burned my estate and went to the field. General 
Gomez soon landed ; recruits flocked to our flag, and 
though we had no arms but our machetes, the wave 
of revolt spread from East to West, from Cape Maisi 
seven hundred miles to San Antonio, until it as- 
sumed its present dimensions. 

"Many wealthy Cubans devoted their w^hole for- 
tunes to the cause, and arms and ammunition have 
been purchased at exorbitant cost and stupendous 
difficulty. Our army has been outnumbered ten to 
one, but for three years the struggle has been main- 
tained. Our women and children have been ruthlessly 
starved to death, and our men hunted like wild 
beasts; and Geneial Weyler was assured that his 
policy was Spain's policy, until the island became 
soaked in innocent blood and entirely laid waste. 
Then, when "action by the United States became im- 
minent, and not until then, was the order to kill every- 
thing Cuban — man, woman, and child — reversed. 
General Blanco comes to offer us autonomy; and we 
Cubans, who have hitherto been spoken of as bandits, 
without principle or reason, whose only fate was the 
garrote or the firing squad, are suddenly asked to 

159 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

surrender on the promise of self-government, posts 
being assured to all the leaders. Do you wonder that 
we are suspicious of Spanish promises ? 

"The reforms which were indignantly refused us 
before the war are now too late. We can accept noth- 
ing from Spain but absolute independence. There 
is no guarantee for us; Spain can repudiate her 
decrees; a change of ministry can sweep aside the 
reforms instituted by Senor Sagasta ; and we should 
have endured all this for nothing. ' Independencia 
o muerte! ' " 

"And in its present critical condition do you not 
fear for the stability of your country suddenly cut 
loose from Spain?" I inquired. 

"Our crippled condition alone is a great argu- 
ment for independence. If we Cubans are capable 
of self-rule, as outlined by Senor Sagasta, we should 
certainly be better without the despotic Spanish 
Captain-General. Spain also is so heavily in debt, 
that she will not only be unable to aid the re-devel- 
opment of the island, but we shall be heavily bur- 
dened by sharing the war debt, much of which has 
gone to the pockets of Weyler and his corrupt staff. 
Our one hope lies in the removal of Spain's proscrip- 
tive policy, and an influx of foreign capital, which is 
sure to come when all obnoxious tariffs and taxes, 
which restrict every chance of trade or improvement, 
are removed. 

" We realize fully that our path will be difficult ; but 
notwithstanding our incredible commercial shackles, 

160 



An Interview with Maso ^ 

oppressive taxation, and the false political economy 
of our past rule, this island has produced a magnifi- 
cent revenue, all of which has gone to Spain by fair 
means or foul, except a meagre sum voted for local 
repairs in the cities. Cuba has not one road worthy 
of the name except in Havana, and not fifteen per 
cent of her rich soil is under cultivation. With 
facilities for transport, we could hold the markets of 
the world for cane sugar, coffee, and tobacco. In 
this province you see acres of valuable land, clear 
and well-watered, but with nothing but bridle-paths 
through the woods to take produce to the cities. 

"Our mineral wealth is practically undeveloped. 
The best iron used by the Carnegie Company for 
their steel comes from their mines in Santiago, and 
the whole province is rich in metal, but unworked. 
Trade must necessarily be stimulated by the removal 
of the preferential duties which have kept the bulk 
of our imports in Spanish markets and caused retali- 
atory tariffs on our exports to the United States. 
The price of bread through the duty on flour alone 
is a disgrace to the Spanish administration." 

" There is a visible difference between Cuban and 
Spaniard. Despite propinquity, their characters are 
widely altered. How do you account for this?" I 
asked. 

" The Cubans have been reared in different condi- 
tions. With the exceptional advantages of educa- 
tion in the United States, many of our children have 
been educated there at less cost even than in Havana 
11 161 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

colleges. Constant intercourse between Cuba and 
the United States has also had a marked influence 
on the Cuban; but apart from that, there are many 
descendants of English and Scotch planters in the 
West Indies, who have settled there and own sugar 
plantations, while political troubles have sent some 
French refugees to Cuba. Thus a race entirely dif- 
ferent has sprung up. The Spaniards who flock here 
for a few years, make money, and retire to Spain, are 
usually bad specimens of their race." 

" And the autonomist party ? " I interposed. 

" Until three months ago, there were not a dozen 
autonomists, and they only in name. Some Cubans 
who had been forced to flee by Weyler, have now 
been glad to return, and accept office under General 
Blanco. They are few and weak, and lack the reso- 
lution of the Cubans in arms. Without strong moral 
support from Spain they cannot stand ; for the ultra- 
Spanish party are bitterly opposed to them, w^iile 
they have little sympathy from the Cubans them- 
selves. We who have lost our all, and see fully the 
effects of the war, realize that the breach can never be 
healed by compromise. No sign has our army given 
of weakening, and not one man of note has broken 
his word to Cuba by accepting Spanish bribes." 

"If Cuba gain her independence, do you fear the 
negro problem will cause trouble?" I said. 

"Our negroes," said President Maso, "are mostly 
uneducated laborers, quite unfitted for holding posi- 
tions. They will have the citizen rights, as given in 

162 



An Interview with Maso 

th3 United States, and with sufficient employment 
will give no trouble. The population of Cuba is 
composed of one-third colored, either mulatto or 
negro. Yet some gravely predict Cuba's future as 
a second Hayti or Liberia, — a negro republic. The 
idea is manifestly absurd. Cuba is much under-pop- 
ulated, and one of our first measures will be to in- 
duce a restricted immigration of those likely to assist 
in developing our immense resources. Our negroes 
Avill work as before in the cane-fields, and I see no 
reason to anticipate trouble from them. We have no 
colored officials in this government, and very few of 
our officers are black, though the slaves we freed by 
the last war are fighting faithfully in this." 

" Do you directly favor intervention of the United 
States?" was my final question. 

The President hesitated a moment. " Yes, for the 
sake of humanity I do, though I do not anticipate 
great help from that quarter. President McKinley 
has many precedents in Europe to follow, — the inter- 
ference of the Powers in Belgium in 1830, and in 
struggles in" Greece, Hungary, and other points in 
eastern Europe ; but he long allowed Weyler's regime 
without protest, and is hardly likely to intervene 
now. Our one hope is to sustain the fight until 
Spain's rash boast of ' last dollar and last man ' has 
been fulfilled, or the nation realizes that it is fruit- 
less to prolong the struggle which has cost her dear." 

President Maso has spent two fortunes and the 
best years of his life for his country. Ruined and 

163 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

exiled in the last war, he returned to his estates near 
Manzanillo in '81, and had again acquired affluence 
in '95. When nearly seventy, he again relinquished 
all and returned to privation in the field. He has 
much prestige, and is known throughout the island as 
"Honest Maso." Before donning the Cuban cock- 
ade, he drew heavily on his invested capital, paid his 
debts, and taxes for a year in advance, and destroyed 
his plantation. 

The other members of the Government were all 
men of education. The Vice-President, Dr. Mendez 
Capote, now chief adviser to General Brooke, was 
professor of law in Havana University before the 
war, and counsel for the Water Works, Electric 
Light and Power Company, and Regla Railroad, 
three vested interests of Americans in the capital. 

The unrecognized republic was divided into four 
districts or states, — Oriente (Santiago de Cuba), 
Camaguey (Puerto Principe), Las Villas (from the 
Trocha westward to Palmas and Cochinos Bay in 
Matanzas), and Occidente (from Las Villas to Cape 
Antonio, the extreme west, thus including part of 
Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio). 

Each of these equal divisions elected six represen- 
tatives for the Assembly on the basis of universal 
suffrage, which the exigencies of the situation made 
practically a military vote. Members from the West 
had a perilous journey across the island, but finally 
the twenty-four were gathered at La Yaya, one day's 
march from Puerto Principe. 

164 



The Cuban Cabinet 

On October 29, 1897, the new constitution was 
adopted, the Assembly being convened for two years. 
President Cisneros, Marquis of Santa Lucia, retired, 
and the following officials were elected : General 
Maso, President; Dr. Capote, Vice-President; Colo- 
nel Alemen, Secretary of War; Colonel Fonts Ster- 
ling, Secretary of Treasury ; Dr. Moreno de la Torre, 
Secretary of Foreign Affairs ; Dr. Silva, Minister of 
the Interior; Dr. Freire, Chief of Judiciary; Colo- 
nel Jos^ Vivanco, Secretary to the Assembly. Civil 
governors for each state were then appointed. 

Most of the above officials were elected unani- 
mously, though a few votes were cast for Garcia as 
president, and Cardenas for secretary of war. There 
was not a single colored rejDresentative, all being men 
of refinement, and several graduates of American col- 
leges. The Government then moved to Esperanza 
and there had held regular sessions twice a week. 

I witnessed animated discussions carried on entirely 
in English. During one of these, Dr. Capote, on 
behalf of the Assembly, made a stirring speech re- 
jecting autonomy, of which I repeat the closing 
sentences : — 

"]^o reforms, no autonomy, nothing under any name 
that means a continuance of Spanish domination in 
Cuba can end our struggle. We have fought too long 
now for simple political measures, supposing them gen- 
uine. We will sustain this struggle until the flag that 
has covered so many butcheries, presided over so much 
injustice, protected so many iniquities, shall be hauled 

165 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

down from Cuba. Between this people and the Spanish 
Government there extends a bottomless ocean of tears, 
there surges a great sea of blood, and there is an impass- 
able mountain of hate. Thus we wish the absolute 
independence of this island, where we desire to consti- 
tute a free, ordained, prosperous, and happy people on 
the ruins of an exhausted colony. 

"The attitude of Spain in the past guides us now. 
The offer of autonomy is an explicit declaration of 
impotency, a bait to-day to sustain a situation which 
but yesterday was to be sustained by fire and sword, by 
extermination. The logical process of this we have 
seen before. We were once tricked to peace, and 
the old regime was then re-enforced. To-day their 
strength has failed, and they try again for peace by 
compromise. The Peninsular Spaniard will rule and 
control as before, and nothing can guarantee tranquil- 
lity but absolute separation, since Spain is Spain." 

Colonel Alemen, a Cuban writer of eminence, was 
by far the hardest-working member of the adminis- 
tration. He had reports of weekly " states " of each 
army division in Cuba; and if, owing to broken 
commands, the organization were not perfect in the 
West, in the East the officials could tell at a glance 
the number of cartridges at their disposal, who was 
sick, and who in prison. Each regimental com- 
mander sent a daily report to divisional headquarters, 
and these were collectively submitted each week to 
the Secretary of War. This zealous officer resigned 
in favor of Rafael de Cardenas, soon after my visit. 

166 



Characteristics of the Ministers 

Colonel Fonts Sterling is a Cuban of Scotch de- 
scent, and a graduate of a New York Military Acad- 
emy. The surprise was great when this popular 
young member of New York society suddenly set 
sail for Cuba, and prognostications of speedy return 
to the elite environs of Fifth Avenue were general. 
But his friends little gauged his patriotism. He 
soon established a name in the West, and received 
rapid promotion until elected Minister of Finance. 
All property of the precarious republic came under 
his jurisdiction, — the collection of taxes from wealthy 
land-owners, all subscriptions to the cause, and the 
outlay for supplies for the army, equipment of expe- 
ditions, and purchase of arms and ammunition. 

Dr. Moreno, a graduate of Havana college, is 
well known in Washington. As minister of foreign 
affairs, he was concerned chiefly in directing the 
extension of the cause abroad by the various jun- 
tas, notably in New York, Paris, Florida, and 
Mexico. 

Dr. Silva, then Minister of the Interior, had charge 
of the administration of the civil authority, directing 
the civil governors of states, under whom were gov- 
ernors of districts, who appointed prefects and sub- 
prefects. 

Dr. Freire, a representative of one of Cuba's old- 
est families, before the war was judge of the Auden- 
cia, or supreme court of Havana. After Weyler's ar- 
rival he relinquished the lucrative position that, under 
the new regime, would give unlimited spoils, and 

167 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

went to the field. The various military " judiciaries " 
appointed chiefly from members of the Havana Uni- 
versity who poured out en masse to the war, came 
under his jurisdiction. 

The civil administration of Free Cuba proved a 
simple but interesting institution. Prefecturas were 
established in every district, the prefect keeping 
registers of births, marriages, and deaths, and a list 
of all people residing under his jurisdiction. He 
was empowered to see that no one lived without 
occupation, every one being placed to labor accord- 
ing to his capabilities. Thus a system not unlike 
Bellamy's ideal arose in eastern Cuba. Every one 
worked for the good of the republic; the shoemaker 
made his shoes, the carpenter furniture, the smith 
arms and utensils, the farmer raised produce, — all 
went to the main distributing agency, the prefectura. 
There these necessaries of life were distributed freely 
according to supply, the shoemaker took in shoes and 
regularly drew beef and vegetables in return; each 
worker gave and received. With the fervid patri- 
otism then existent in Cuba, this system, that would 
be an obvious failure in ordinary conditions, was a 
success. I saw several banns of approaching marriage 
posted in prefecturas, the ceremony being performed 
by the Governor. All horses and cattle were at the 
prefect's disposition, he issued meat for his district 
and provided horses to remount the troops when 
needed. He had a bugle to sound on approach of the 
enemy, that the people might escape and the Cuban 

168 



Marriage in Free Cuba 

soldiers be warned, and he was responsible for the 
feeding of sncli forces as came into his district. In 
the West but few prefecturas were well maintained, 
but in Camaguey the system was perfect. 

The "lex non scripta" of the West here gave place 
to the laws of the republic, neatly bound and hung 
in every prefectura or sub-prefectura in the province. 
While many of the edicts were of a military charac- 
ter, an admirable code for the benefit of civilians was 
included. Especially strict marriage laws were en- 
forced in "Cuba libre," the age limits being eighteen 
for the male and fifteen for the female. Incompati- 
bility or ill-treatment was a sufficient cause for a 
judicial separation, and absolute decrees were only 
granted for breaches of the seventh commandment. 

Prefects on the coast commanded the guardia costa, 
who watched for the approach of enemy's vessels, 
fired into boats coming ashore for reconnaissance or 
supplies, and received filibustering expeditions. 

Owing to the scarcity of grass, the Government 
on the 13th moved to Sabana la mar, only twenty - 
six miles east of Moron, the terminus of the Trocha. 
We had a wet and miserable ride ; the streams were 
swollen, and the official archives, loaded on pack 
mules, were drenched. The river Caunao was 
crossed with difficulty, and it was late when we 
reached our destination. The Government soon 
adapted itself to circumstances, — tables were set up 
in a long drying-shed, stands of records, cases of 

169 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

books, and writing-desks soon giving an official air 
to the sorry capitol. 

Provisions were scarce in Sabana la mar, and the 
families could not be imposed upon, though they 
willingly proffered all they had. But the sea was 
only a league away and fish were abundant. The 
prefect, a studious-looking man with a charming wife 
and two smart children, was city bred, and came out 
with his family at the beginning of the war. The 
sub-prefect, Don Alberto, was a typical guajiro of 
the old stock. He, his buxom wife, and three pretty 
daughters were the life of the country-side, and many 
crude but enjoyable entertainments took place under 
their roof. 

While with the Government, I met most of the 
prominent men of the East, who had come to confer 
with the President, and had been delayed by the 
sudden raid. Reared in every luxury, they still 
made the best of the life of hardship in the field, but 
it was telling greatly on them. These makers of a 
future Cuba deserve fame; and if class distinctions 
count for nothing, the greater sacrifice still de- 
serves the greater honor. They dared and died to 
win liberties that will be enjoyed by a future genera- 
tion. They have perished on the field, in prison, and 
of sheer privation; but the spirit of '48, that made 
Europe tremble, marched on in Cuba, with that 
heroic enthusiasm that counted life but little, and 
made men ready to die in an unselfish cause. What 
Stead says of the patriots of '48, may be said of Cuba 

170 



Heroic Endurance of the Cubans 

fifty years later. The conduct of the man who goes 
forth to battle at the orders of a government that 
would shoot him if he refused to fight, cannot be 
considered by the side of those who have relinquished 
everything they love on earth, to face the dungeon, 
the gallows, or other violent death, in the cause of a 
great ideal. To them there is something nobler than 
a well-filled paunch. Against the soulless material- 
ism of this comfort-loving generation they have borne 
eloquent testimony. They poured out their blood 
that their descendants might live. 

"To liken the insurgent element in Cuba to the 
fathers of the United States is too absurd for consid- 
eration," thunders one writer; but when I hear such 
statements, I think of the brave fellows I have seen 
lying in some crazy shelter, their festering wounds 
unattended; of men nurtured in luxury, who have 
existed on grass soup until too weak to crawl into 
the saddle, and have then fallen in the bush, dying 
but unconquered; of the heroes who faced the fatal 
volleys unflinchingly in la Cabana fort, and died with 
"Cuba libre " on their lips; of the exiles marched 
with pinioned arms to the wharves, while weeping 
mothers, wives, and children looked on for the last 
time but dared not speak. 

The Cubans had far greater cause for revolt than 
the thirteen colonies in 1776, when they rose en 
masse against tyranny, and struck the death-blow to 
the old imperialism. Never were those patriots under 
the disabilities of the Cubans, — the sturdy Anglo- 

171 



Y 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Saxon character had been fostered in the development 
of their new home ; they had the aid of the French, 
and advantages of which the Cubans know nothing. 

Spain had 285, 000 soldiers and volunteers and her 
fleet, to shut in a narrow island a mere handful of 
patriots, who started the fight with but a dozen rifles. 
Without artillery, outnumbered fifteen to one, their 
guns and cartridges to be smuggled with difficulty, 
first from the shores of the great Republic, and then 
into their own island, their crops burned, their cattle 
seized, the Cubans sustained the unequal struggle 
without a waver. Because, in the cursedness of 
Spain's rule, the lower classes of these people are 
uncultured and ignorant, — because, to our superior 
enlightenment, these islanders seem inferior to us, — 
is it expedient for Americans to despise those who 
so heroically struggled for betterment? 

I spent a few pleasant days with the Government. 
Brave old General Lacret arranged for my benefit a 
simple but, for Cuba, luxurious feast, and a dance by 
moonlight, many bright-eyed maidens footing it with 
the officers to the music of two guitars, a flute, and an 
accordion. The cavalry squadron was holding the 
road in case the enemy advanced. They gave us a 
sham fight, using sticks for machetes, when pates 
were cracked with the vehemence of Donnybrook 
Fair, and feats of trick riding performed. Twice we 
rode to the sea and fished for our dinner, keeping a 
lookout for gunboats which were anchored beyond 
the cayo. At night w^e liad long discussions on the 

172 



The Cuban Cabinet 

future of free Cuba, which the steadfast officials held 
a sacred ideal, and spoke of with a touching rever- 
ence and earnestness. 

They had roseate hopes for the future, when a re- 
stricted emigration, the removal of tariffs, and the in- 
troduction of railroads under a government guarantee 
of three per cent returns on invested capital, should 
restore the Pearl of the Antilles to prosperity. Their 
idea of Cuba libre was a Utopian state of which the 
philosophers once dreamed. 

Even these men had but one suit apiece, which 
was washed and dried as they lay in their hammocks. 
I messed with Dr. Capote, Colonel Sterling, and 
Dr. Freire, who bunked together in an outhouse; 
and often amid the stillness of the Cuban forest, I 
have seen them sit for hours without a word, their 
thoughts sadly re^^-erting to those dear ones of whom 
they had heard so little for three years. Dr. Freire 
had sent his family to Paris ; relatives of the others 
had found refuge in New York. 

Colonel Giberga, brother of the autonomist deputy, 
rejoined the Government on the 18th, and later 
Dr. Despaigne and Colonel Alonso arrived from the 
South, so the rebel cabinet was complete. After 
a warm debate, a majority of the representatives 
adopted a resolution, offering, as an indemnity to 
Spain, a sum of money in return for the immediate 
independence of Cuba. 

"With a view of bringing to an end the fearful sacri- 
fice of life, Spanish and Cuban, and closing the disas- 

173 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

trous struggle that is costing both sides dearly, the 
elected reijresentatives of the Cubans in arms hereby 
offer a sum of money as an indemnity for the imme- 
diate and absolute independence of Cuba, the amount 
of that indemnity to be arranged between commissioners 
of both parties. In making this offer, the amount we 
would pay to-day cannot be so great in the future, for 
each week the desolation of the island increases, and 
the colony becomes of less value to Spain. 

Moreno de la Torre, 

Secretary of the Interior, 
Bartolome Maso, 

Presidenl of the Cuban Provisional Government. 

No specific sum was stated, but guarantees were 
forthcoming to provide $100,000,000 for the purpose. 
With little hope of its acceptance, the Cubans still 
wished to show a reasonable disposition to compro- 
mise on conditions of absolute independence. I made 
duplicate copies of the resolution for publication in 
New York and London, and sent one to Senor Cane- 
lejas in Madrid. That offer was placed before the 
cabinet and unofficially rejected by Sagasta and 
Moret, who stated that "the birthright of Spain 
could not be sold for a mess of pottage." 

The government aides were bright fellows. I 
remember particularly the brave young surgeon of 
Matanzas, Dr. Janiz of Lacret's staff, and Major 
Staple, an American and assistant of the Secretary of 
War. The aides to the President were his son, Colo- 

174 



An Unexpected Present 

nel Maso, and Captain Tirado, a New York Cuban 
whose writings on the insurrection are well known. 
Colonel Cespedes also, who had his leg bone shat- 
tered by a bullet, had just returned from New York 
with a dog's bone grafted in his tibia, and alien flesh 
joined into the wound. Before it was healed he was 
back fighting for Cuba, and in January led a suc- 
cessful attack against cavalry on the Txocha, cutting 
up one whole troop. 

General Lacret had sent me an unexpected pres- 
ent, a chestnut horse with a new saddle of the 
McClellan pattern, a full horse kit, some coffee, and 
a bundle of cigars. With this and an escort, I was 
well prepared to continue my journey East, though 
loath to leave the scene of so much hospitality. 



175 



CHAPTER VIII 

A Modern Don Quixote. — A Fair Patriot. — General 
RoLOFF. — An Effective Demonstration. — A Horse 
Thief, — Guaimaro. — A Frightful Incident. — Co- 
LAZzo AND Hernandez. — Las Tunas. — The Enemy. — 
A Mine. — Ambushed. — Garcia at last. 

Prefect Don Pedro, ruled by his sharp-tongued 
wife, was the Heap of the coast community of Cama- 
guey; when mounted on his mule like honest Gil 
Bias of Santillane, 'he was the terror of rnajaces, and 
a valiant guajiro of great repute. The mule added 
to his self-respect, and rebuked not. In build a 
Sancho Panza, in spirit a Don Quixote, in story a 
Munchausen, he induced me to ride many miles to 
witness his capture of a Spanish gunboat, and hand 
down his achievement to posterity. The Bahaman 
Channel absorbs the royal blue of the Mexican gulf; 
with the silver-sand cayos, coral reefs, and palm- 
capped ridges, backed by a sk}^ to match the sea, the 
Cuban coast is a paradise; but with mosquitoes. 

The gunboat had run down from Moron between 
the keys. Don Pedro, the coast guards, and myself 
packed our clothes, rifles, and supplies into the single 
boat, and cautiously swam from the mainland. The 
key gained, the guards were to sweep the decks of 

176 



An Attack Reversed 

the vessel, and hold the narrow channel leading to 
open sea, until the boat surrendered. We were to 
intrench and camp in a clump of trees on the end of 
the reef, the shallows on the east giving a road for 
our escape to land. 

We cautiously swam from shore with our craft. 
Our trouble commenced with a shark; we were 
stung by acalephee, and the betentacled devil-fish 
abounded; but finally we reached the key, and in 
the garb of Adam, dragged the boat to the burning 
shore. But the vessel had quietly circled round to 
land a party for water, and drew near so rapidly 
that we were forced to abandon the boat, and lie 
flat in the sand. Then Pedro and two others fool- 
ishly re-entered the water and headed panic-stricken 
for the mainland. The Dons turned their glasses, 
then a machine gun, against the bobbing heads ; and 
as the swimmers hurried back, the bullets followed 
them sizzling to the key, driving us to a hiding in 
the swamp. We could not procure a stitch of cloth- 
ing; shelter from the trees at the point was cut off, 
and we suffered fearful torture from the broiling sun. 

Our thirst soon became intolerable, our tongues 
swelled, and it was with difficulty I refrained from 
emulating some of the men by lapping up the swamp 
water. The Spaniards could not approach the shal- 
lows, so night finally brought us relief. We crept 
to the beach, seized our effects, and cautiously struck 
out from the farther end of the cayo for the main- 
land. The gunboat boasted a weak searchlight, and 
12 177 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the swim seemed eternity as we strove to elude its 
glare. 

We crawled painfully ashore, wdser and sadder for 
our Lungtungpen. We lit a fire in the bush to dry 
our clothes, but the exultant chatter of the Cubans 
at our escape aroused the somnolent Dons, and three 
shells came crashing into the woods uncomfortably 
near us. I stowed my blistered body into my wet 
uniform, and bade adieu to the luckless braves whose 
prowess I shall long remember, since from the sun- 
bake I shed my entire epidermis, like a newt in 
strange water, and suffered days and nights of.agony. 

Riding near the northern end of the Trocha, I 
swung my hammock wearily where I could keep one 
eye on the trail that led to the Spanish position. I 
was dozing, the practico also, when sudden footsteps 
coming from that direction aroused me. To cock my 
Winchester and spring up was the work of an in- 
stant; but only a boy in white linen suit hove in 
sight. Angry at an absurd alarm, I answered his 
greeting sharply, "Que tal muchacho? What do 
you want?" 

"A horse, Senor! " 

"A what? Do you suppose I carry round a 
deposito?" 

"For the love of God, sir, give me a horse. Don't 
send me away." 

"Who are you? Where do you come from? Over 
there ? " as the lad nodded his head toward the 
Trocha. "Then you are a Spaniard." 

178 



A Daughter of Cuba 

His dark eyes flashed at this calumny, and he 
dropped on his knees, weeping, kissing my hand, 
and begging for a horse. 

Then I saw my visitor was a girl disguised; the 
delicate features and heaving bosom betrayed the 
secret. The poor child — she was but sixteen — was 
worn out by fatigue and excitement, and not until 
we had let her rest awhile in my hammock, could we 
learn her story. Her name was Rosa Gonzales. Her 
mother had long been dead ; her father had marched 
East with Gomez, and she feared was killed. Before 
the war, they owned a small plantation near San 
Andres; but it was destroyed, and the girl, with a 
brother and aunt, crossed the Rio Jatibonico, where 
they lived in a small hut in the hills. But lately the 
guerilla had infested the neighborhood; and while 
the aunt went to the city, Rosa in boy's clothes, and 
her brother, started to cross the Trocha together to 
find their father. But they were shot at from the 
forts and her brother was killed. For two days she 
had lain hidden; and then, during a heavy rain that 
drove the patrols to the forts, she clambered over the 
barbed barricade, waded the ditch, and finally had 
struck our camp. Her hands were terribly lacer- 
ated, and she was completely unnerved by her expe- 
riences, but she slept quietly for three hours, and 
then we marched, Rosa perched on the saddle be- 
fore me. By nightfall I had my weary protegee in 
a pacifico's house, in a fertile potrero where there 
were women to care for her, and food of a sort to 

179 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

eat. When I next saw my little friend, I found her 
too ill to talk. 

"Silencio! Tiene calentura!" (fever), said the 
motherly old nurse, as I drew aside the raw-hide 
door, and entered the farmhouse. 

I stooped and kissed the little oval face, now burn- 
ing with fever, and whispered that Cuba would soon 
be free, she would find her father, and they would be 
very happy. My words brought a hopeful light into 
her beautiful eyes, but destiny seemed universally 
cruel in Cuba. Next day I fashioned a rude cross 
for her grave, and wrote across it "Por Cuba." 

On the 21st I joined General Roloff, who was 
marching across the province. His father was a 
Russian officer who was forced to flee for a political 
offence and had married an American. Their son 
identified himself with the Cuban cause; and both 
in the ten years' war and the last struggle, he has 
been a prominent figure, though since his term as 
Secretary of War has elapsed, he has not held active 
command. 

His aides. Captain Ruiz and Lieutenant Jack, I 
found were the two men that had shot into and un- 
wittingly helped us hold the Spanish column at 
Pueblo Nuevo the previous week. 

We crossed the Rio Caunao with great difficulty on 
logs, losing one horse in the mud. At La Citia we 
found the family I had previously met flying from the 
Spaniards, and I was formally introduced to " Seiiorita 
Consuelo Cosio." The name attracted my attention, 

180 



A Path of Devastation 

and I found she was Evangelina's first cousin. They 
were now rumed and homeless, but received every 
care from Doiia Petronilla of San Jocinto, until they 
made a fresh home. 

General Recio had held his own against the enemy 
for some days, hut was greatly retarded by his meagre 
supply of ammunition. Finally the Spaniards re- 
tired slowly to the city. With General Roloff and 
staff we followed their trail through a wild scene of 
desolation, — beautiful haciendas were still smoulder- 
ing, and the road was strewn with rotting carcasses 
of cattle wantonly slaughtered' to starve out the in- 
surgents. Pueblo Nuevo and a dozen villages were 
destroyed, and the whole district deserted. We ex- 
perienced great difficulty in securing food, until Jack 
and I rode- foraging, and I finally stalked a deer 
which lasted two days. Our route for many miles 
lay through dense forest; Jack and myself rode 
ahead with a practico to scout. The marching was 
heavy, and the woods were infested with bandits 
who gathered in cattle and sold them to the Span- 
iards, The districts near Spanish cities were very 
unsafe, and caused me many adventures at various 
times, though in Cuba libre travelling was secure, 
and plateados and guerillas unknown. We encoun- 
tered one suspicious band, but they saw we were both 
heavily armed, and kept a respectful distance. 

On the outskirts of the forest, we found traces of 
the enemy, and camped in a half -burned house until 
the general arrived. We then marched quickly and 

181 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

reached the trail of Recio, who was harassing the 
enemy into the city. We found nine Spanish bodies 
in one place, one an officer; and in General Rodri- 
guez's ruined plantation, two more were discovered 
pitched into a well. Graves also were dotted about, 
and evidently the Spaniards had lost considerably. 

We reached the highroad of Gerinimo, and then 
advanced warily toward Puerto Principe. On the 
Camino Real, near a ruined chapel, Maceo two years 
before had made one of the fiercest machete charges 
of the war. Three hundred Spanish soldiers were 
surprised and cut to pieces by one-half their number 
of Cubans. Their dry bones lay in the dust as we 
rode past. 

Near the city we met several wounded men en 
route for the hospital. One brave lad shot in the 
chest was obviously dying, and though suffering 
intense pain, the poor fellow thought only of his 
mother in the Vedado in Havana. He muttered out 
a dying message which I promised to deliver. " Mi 
pobre madre! she will have no one now!" he re- 
^ marked sadly, and then the blood gushed from his 
mouth, and he was dead. I detached the blood- 
stained scapular from his body before we buried him, 
but had no opportunity for many months to send the 
relic to the waiting widow in Havana, and tell her 
how her boy died for Cuba. 

The desolation around the city was appalling, glo- 
rious " centrals " devastated, the marble palaces of the 
old slave days toppled into hopeless ruin, the very 

182 



A Ridiculous Assertion 

grass fired by the retiring Spaniards to foil the 
Cuban horsemen that skirmished on their flanks 
night and day. 

General Blanco had arrived to welcome Castella- 
nos. Hot-headed insurgents advocated the de- 
struction of his train, passing from Nuevitas to 
Principe ; but if the leaders hated Spain, they could 
at least respect a brave Spaniard, and the general 
came and went in safety over the worst strip of 
railway in the island. Weyler would never have 
finished the trip alive. 

Castellanos spread inflated reports of his achieve- 
ment. The Government that had quietly ridden out 
to the next village, he claimed to have utterly routed; 
he said that his men had seen the bodies of fifty- 
seven insui^ents in Esperanza, while I know every 
killed and wounded Cuban had been carried to the 
rear, and he it was who abandoned his dead on the 
field. The most ridiculous assertion of this officer 
was that he had captured and burned all the archives 
of the rebel Government. Surely even Spanish cre- 
dulity could detect the obvious falsity of this, — that 
a general should burn such valuable evidences of his 
success if he had captured them. 

Captain Arostigui, with a small rebel detachment, 
soon showed Blanco that the mambis were still alive, 
for on the following night his sharpshooters crept 
close to Puerto Principe and drove in the outposts. 
Some Cuban infantry also advanced toward the rail- 
road station and opened on the forts, several outlying 

183 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

buildings were fired, and the whole garrison dashed 
to the barricades to repel this attack on the city. 

From a small hill we viewed the scene until the 
wild volleys of the Spaniards made the rear more 
dangerous than the front, and bullets whistled around 
us like hail. The lurid glare lit up tlie outlines of 
the quaint old city, which seemed girdled with a ring 
of fire, as some five thousand Mausers belched flame 
from the circling barricades. Their crashing, like 
the ripping of a Titanic carpet, almost drowned the 
hoarser Remingtons of, the Cubans which rang out 
individually like the popping of champagne corks. 
It was an effective demonstration for two hundred 
insurgents, and gave the lie direct to Castellanos' 
report to his commander-in-chief, that the whole 
province was subjugated. 

Crossing a glorious grazing country toward Arroyo 
Blanco, I rode over to spend a day with General 
Recio, who was resting his war-worn troops within 
sight of the city. Here I obtained a guide and 
escort, and marched down the Santa Cruz highroad 
to Palma. Turning sharply to the right through an 
invisible opening in the palmetto hedge, we struck 
a secret highway that led across one of the Marquis 
of Santa Lucia's estates at Najaza, sequestered on 
paper by Spain. Riding through majestic palm-groves 
across a savannah in which a herd of semi- wild cattle 
were grazing, we mounted a hill and were abruptly 
halted by the rebel guard occupying a Spanish fort 
captured by Maceo. From them we learned that the 

184 




c^ 




•I ^ 







■ij 





The Marquis of Santa Lucia 

marquis was visiting his estate ; and though the resi- 
dencia was destroyed, we found the ex-president of 
the republic domiciled in a comfortable, if unpreten- 
tious, thatched house. The old gentleman welcomed 
me warmly in purest English ; I went to pay a call 
and stayed a week. 

The son of an old grandee family, and heir to the 
vast Santa Lucia estates, Salvador Cisneros was edu- 
cated in Philadelphia, and in his early days imbibed 
the doctrines of Penn. As he happily put it, " I am 
still a Quaker, but with limitations." He returned 
to Cuba to control his property, but became a partici- 
pant in the revolution of '68, though never bearing 
arms. " There were then plenty of fighters and few 
thinkers," he said; and his attitude was not unlike 
the Quaker of old, who loaded the guns for his 
friends to fire. His vast estates were confiscated, 
and he devoted his life to Cuba, living in the woods 
with his compatriots, and suffering great privations. 
With the peace of '78, some of his property was 
restored, and he was on the point of securing the 
most valuable estate, on which stands the town of 
Minas, when the '95 rebellion started. 

By remaining neutral, he could have spent his de- 
clining years in comfort; but he chose the good part, 
electing rather to lose all, that he might serve the 
cause. He became first president of Cuba libre. 

"I am old," he said, "but please God I shall see 
Cuba freed, and then I can die contented." 

He was deeply interested in the welfare of his fair 
185 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

relative, Evangelina, and gladly accepted photographs 
I had taken of her in prison. This revived old 
memories, for civil strife divides the most united 
of families, and ties are rudely snapped never to be 
rejoined. "Poor child! "he mused, "as queenly as 
her mother. We Cubans have all had sad histories." 

The week passed quickly, for there were many 
families to visit, and much to see. It was here I 
met Senorita Iluminada Agremonte, one of Cuba's 
most devoted daughters. She is happily named for 
her sweet disposition, and hundreds of Camagueyan 
patriots invoke a blessing on her for gentle ministra- 
tions to the sick and wounded. To the old marquis 
she is devoted ; and a union of this May with Decem- 
ber is possible, for Don Salvador is very young for 
his years, and wishes to leave his estates to the girl 
he has known from her baby days. 

Here, in the heart of Cuba libre, I realized even 
more that the Republic was practically an established 
fact. In the prefect's house near by, the children of 
the district were taught to read and write, and study 
the history of their country from school books printed 
in the official press. There were five papers pub- 
lished in the field, the best of which, "El Cubano 
Libre," the official organ of Camaguey, edited and 
produced by Captain Ortiz, boasted of tolerable wood- 
cuts, and was unique in the annals of illustrated 
journalism. 

Though every citizen worked for the good of the 
republic, there w^as a Cuban currency of $1,000,000 

186 



Citizens of Cuba 

silver, and postage stamps of all values were issued 
in '96. Both dollars and stamps have been eagerly 
sought after by curio -hunters, and the profits accru- 
ing have purchased rifles and cartridges. 

According to official statistics, Puerto Principe in 
'87 had 67,789 inhabitants, and Santiago de Cuba 
province 272,319. Allowing for an increase of popu- 
lation until the opening of the war, and deducting 
the number of residents living in the few cities in the 
East occupied by Spain, the statement that 240,000 
people in these two provinces lived under the admin- 
istration of the Insurgent Government,- and contribu- 
ted to the maintenance of the revolution, is justified. 
The Cubans there address each other as " Ciudadano " 
(citizen) with much gravity. 

The maTquis kindly guided me to all points of 
interest in the Najaza district, including the talleres, 
or government work-shops, in which the skilled arti- 
sans in the field work "por Cuba." There are 
several shoe-shops, for hides are plentiful; and in 
Najaza complete equipments were turned out, toler- 
able machetes from scrap iron, scabbards, cases, dis- 
patch boxes, belts, and all paraphernalia pertaining to 
the soldier. 

In a separate taller, saddles of the McClellan pat- 
tern were made for the cavalry, and ropes of mahagna 
bark were woven, and straw hats and sudaderos, or 
straw saddle-pads, were made by the women and chil - 
dren. Beef fat, saponified with wood ash, served as 
the soap of the community. Honey was plentiful, 

187 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

and the melted wax made excellent "dip " candles. 
Salt was obtained by refraction on the coast at Cam- 
bote, the work being performed by convicts sentenced 
by the insurgent courts for civil offences. 

The marquis was very popular. At every house 
we passed, tiny children would tear out, a pack of 
savage curs at their heels, shouting joyously at our 
approach; and white or black, the old gentleman 
knew all by name. At Peru, where several noted 
families reside, a feast was given in our honor, some 
officers from the fight also being present. Several 
fair patriots rode out to meet the party, singing a 
patriotic eulogy, and scattering flowers on the visi- 
tors. I also attended the wedding-feast of the eldest 
Miss Agremonte, who married one of Don Salvador's 
aides. A palatial residence I visited in the district 
was owned by Pedro Betencourt, the massive brother- 
in-law of my host, and who acted as chief of conxmis- 
sary. His daughter was delirious with fever, so we 
did not make the stay we had anticipated. 

Well concealed in the bush at Najaza is the fa- 
mous Fonseca hospital, the finest in the field. The 
director, Balbino Lopez, was born in Spain, but 
worked day and night for the sick insurgents, and 
such Spaniards as had cared to desert or were aban- 
doned on the field. The wards were airy and well 
fitted, and among interesting patients were Major 
Rodriguez, brother to the Havana commander, and 
M. Carbon, the French chemist, and inventor of the 
explosive bearing his name. He had been nearly 

188 



Captain La Rosa 

blown to pieces by the premature explosion of a 
charge, and his life was only saved by constant at- 
tention. The one-time editor of "La Discusion" 
of Havana was also an inmate. 

One young captain, the son of a Principe lawyer, 
lay dying. Hit in the hip-joint ten months before 
by a brass-capped bullet, he had lain helpless, with- 
out comforts or luxuries. Three operations and am- 
putation had been unsuccessful by reason of the lack 
of appliances in the bush; but fearing even a tacit 
recognition of belligerency might be claimed, the 
Spaniards refused the father permission to bring his 
dying son to the city, or even to pass their lines to 
see him. 

Riding two leagues farther, and entering the fer- 
tile valley of the Polvorin, we descried the figure of 
an old woman vigorously filling a grave. Turning 
from her ghoulish task, she rushed to the marquis 
with hands extended. " Viva la Rosa ! " yelled the 
escort, and thus was I introduced to Captain Rosa, 
the Florence Nightingale or Clara Barton of Cuba. 

"A poor Spaniard," she said apologetically, nod- 
ding to the grave, "and my boys are all too sick." 
Detailing men to finish the task, we rode to the hos- 
pital. La Rosa^ is a Creole, who in '67 inherited a 

1 La Rosa in Camaguey occupied a similar position to La Reina 
de Cuba of the West, Mrs. Hernandez, a refined young Cuban lady 
who followed her doctor husband to the field to tend sick patriots. 
Dr. Hernandez lay ill himself in the Managua Hospital, near Sancti 
Spiritus, when Colonel Orozzo captured the place. This brute 
deliberately blew out the young doctor's brains as he lay on his pal- 

189 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

small estate from the family she had served. When 
the war broke out she opened her house, and devoted 
all for the sick and wounded. Through the ten 
years' war she labored, and in '95 she had treated 
the first man wounded in Camaguey, and again 
opened up her estate for the cause, for which Gomez 
gazetted her captain. She had fifty-eight patients 
when we called, and raised, prepared, and cooked 
everything for them. She also distilled medicines 
from herbs unknown in recognized pharmaceutics, 
but efficacious nevertheless. 

At Lomo Alto, we dined with Dr. Luaces, lieu- 
tenant-governor of the province. He is virtually an 
American, and left his practice in Philadelphia to aid 
the establishment of a civil government under the 
revolutionists. He did effective work in organizing 
the prefecturas in the East and establishing a postal 
service. He was then preparing to dispatch one of 
the sorry mail-boats that slipped through the block- 
ading line, either to the Bahamas or Jamaica at regu- 
lar intervals, and thus sustained communication with 
the outer world. 

In this district. General Xavier Vega, an officer 
who had done excellent service with Gomez, was 
camped on parole, awaiting court-martial for neglect 
of duty. He was the seventh leader of Cuba, but he 
twice allowed the Spaniards to round up cattle with- 

let with his wife's arms around hira. The other patients were also 
murdered ; the young lady alone was spared. I last saw her in 
Havana, a prisoner, and being taken to a penal settlement, by 
Weyler's order. 

190 



Security in the Manigua 

out attacking them, and his efficiency in the past did 
not save him from disgrace and loss of command. 
The regulations of the peripatetic Government were 
rigidly enforced and respected accordingly. Colonel 
Ramon succeeded Vega. One of the brightest officers 
on his staff was Captain Enrique Martinez, the 
youngest son of the noted Martinez family of Havana. 

That night we reached the estate of Senora Pina at 
Sabanilla. I was amazed to find this refined Cuban 
home remaining intact, close to the Camino Real, but 
the Spaniards had never ventured in that direction, 
and the senora and her three pretty daughters lived 
fearlessly in a district swarming with rebels. They 
were of course patriotic to a fault, and extended hos- 
pitality to all officers in the vicinity ; but that these 
educated ladies could live unprotected in the country 
with all sorts and conditions of rebels around, is an 
eloquent tribute to the discipline governing the scat- 
tered bands, and the respect ever shown to women 
by the Cuban army. Colonel Vivanco, the young 
Secretary of . State, who has since married one of the 
daughters, was visiting them, and leaving the mar- 
quis to confer with him, I pressed on to Sabanita de 
Vie, where General Roloff was camped. He was 
busily formulating a scheme to destroy part of the 
Trocha, by exploding two hundred and fifty bombs 
simultaneously on the line. He had established quite 
a pretentious factory, but the American invasion obvi- 
ated the necessity for the demonstration. 

With his leg fixed in cepo de campana, or rough 
191 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

stock, a horse thief, whom I recognized as the young 
orderly of Colonel Alonzo, was imprisoned in camp. 
I was asked to take him with my escort to Brigadier 
Portuondo, inspector-general of the Eastern forces, 
whose horse he had stolen. The crime was punish- 
able by death; and I felt a double interest in the 
prisoner when he asked me to detour a league that 
he might say farewell to the wife he had married but 
three months before, and had "borrowed" the horse 
to visit. She proved a mere girl, and begged^ and 
pleaded so hard for her young spouse, that I gave 
him half an hour to stay with her, hoping sincerely 
he would mount and bolt with his wife behind him. 
He came up at the appointed time, true to his word ; 
and I was subsequently able to intercede sufficiently 
to gain his acquittal, on the plea that he had two 
da3^s' leave, and foolishly borroAved the horse to ^'' 
the wife he had married, only to be parted ^ 
the change of the government headquarters 

South of Puerto Principe the country is ope. , and 
there was an abundance of supplies. The Cama- 
gueyano is hospitable to a fault, and from every 
farmhouse one passed, the owner came forth to take 
your horse, inviting you with natural euphuism to 
enter "your own" house for a jicara of coffee, milk, 
or guaparo, for the propination of Cuba Free. To 
refuse these attentions is an offence only exceeded by 
offering payment in return ; for the poorest of these 
honest guajiros has an untainted pride of race. De- 
scendants of the old Castilian colonials, they have 

192 



Camaguey 

virtually practised endogamy; and one Cubanita I 
knew, was spoken of in awed pity, for she was actu- 
ally going to marry a young man from the next prov- 
ince. Camaguey is rightly termed the Kentucky of 
Cuba, and the charming people of the province have 
good reason to be proud as the Artibans. They are 
the oldest and most patriotic Cubans in the island. 
The countrywomen are exceedingly graceful, and 
when dressed for fiesta in their simple white gowns, 
they could take their place in any social gathering 
without notice. Yet the education of the middle 
farming class is very elementary, and numbers of 
these graceful creatures can neither read nor write. 
I met many accomplished Cuban ladies also in the 
manigua, some who had been educated in the Sacred 
Heart or other American institutions. 

Cuban women marry at a tender age, and families 
of over twenty are common. The white pacificos 
have many admirable traits, and exceedingly few 
vices. Intoxicating liquors are unknown outside the 
cities, and home is the only attraction they have. 
Though Weylerism has exterminated the bulk of 
these people, the residue can yet form the foundation 
of a flourishing race, strengthened by immigration. 

Parts of Camaguey, especially the eastern borders, 
and the succeeding country in the Cauto district, are 
very thickly wooded. The exuberance of the Cuban 
forest is incredible, and equals the profuse tangle of 
the African jungle. The ground is covered with 
decaying leaves and rotting trunks, around which 
13 193 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

brilliant lizards dart continuously, and pythons of 
varying size abound. The lower trees form a can- 
opy with the adnascent creepers that circle upward 
from the dense undergrowth. Royal palms, with 
smooth columnar stems and finely pinnated leaves, 
usually fringe the woods, but even they are entwined 
with the parasitic plants and creepers that tangle the 
branches of the brighter trees in a vast struggle for 
existence and upward growth, that remind one of ^I. 
Rochegrosse's "Angoisse Humaine." Wild boars 
and deer are common in tho inner recesses, though 
cartridges were not, and they were thus seldom mo- 
lested. The scorpion on land and the cayman or 
crocodile in the rivers and brooks are alone to be 
avoided. Cuban snakes are generally harmless, the 
iguana and chameleon abound. There are birds in 
abundance, of beautiful plumage ; parrots and hum- 
minsf-birds are the most common. Vultures, bat- 
tened on carrion, make efficient scavengers, and 
nature has supplied both saprophagans and sapro- 
phytes in abundance to deal with the decaying mat- 
ter of their respective kingdoms. The timber of 
Cuba is especially valuable, ebon}-, mahogany, cedar, 
and other cabinet woods abounding. 
j On Febru ary 2 I visited Guimaro, a strongly for- 
tified little city captured by Garcia the previous year. 
While sighting the Hotchkiss gun during the at- 
tack on this citj', Osgood, the famous athlete and 
son of a brave American officer afterwards at Santi- 
ago, fell fatally wounded. 

194 



An Incident of Guimaro 

A terrible incident of the siege was related to me 
by an ex-Spanish sergeant, captured with the garri- 
son, but who, with eighty others, elected to remain 
with the rebels rather than be liberated to miserable 
treatment in the Imperial army. Rita Salcedo, the 
sixteen-year-old daughter of a loyal Spanish planter, 
was secretly betrothed to the Cuban administrator of 
her father's estate near the town. When Weyler's 
atrocities rang through the island this young man 
joined his countrymen in the field. Before Gui- 
maro was attacked, he sent unsigned letters to her, 
by a guard he had known in the days of peace. 

The rebel artillery awoke the libidinous Spaniards 
of the garrison one morning, and they swore that a 
traitor had betrayed the fact that they had little food 
left to withstand a siege, the convoy being then due. 
The officers drank up the rum stores, and a tipsy 
party started a spy hunt. One Cuban pacifico was 
killed in the street, and then the rumor that Seiiorita 
Rita, the belle of the city, had received letters from 
rebels, became noised abroad. Thej^ seized the sen- 
try who had passed the missives through the lines, 
and the frightened man confessed, saying that none 
but simple love messages were sent. Mid the roar 
of battle this party of ruffians dashed into Salcedo's 
residence. The father loudly protested that he was 
a loyal Spaniard, and fought like a lion when they 
tried to seize the horror-stricken girl who clung to 
him. "It was too horrible," said the ex-sergeant; 
"the poor father prayed and cursed. He begged 

195 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

them to spare his child; swore she was as innocent 
as the Madonna; but they tore her from his grasp 
and dragged her half dead with fear to the veranda ; 
a noose was put round the beautiful throat. Mi 
madre ! The frail girl was hauled up with a fearful 
jerk. The graceful form was convulsed, the beauti- 
ful bosom heaved ; Dios mio ! the child was dead. 
No, Senor ! I did not care' to serve longer under offi- 
cers that permitted such a deed." 

From Guimaro to Bayamo, the road is excellent, 
and passing south of the historical Zanjon, where the 
treaty of '78 was signed, we crossed the Rio Jobabo 
into Oriente on February 3. 

General Enrique Colazzo was at Santa Luisa, quar- 
tered in a palatial residence furnished probably by 
Maple. For five days previous we had traversed 
a bad district and suffered many privations through 
prairie fires. Thanks, however, to my hospitable host, 
and his chief of staff. Colonel Hernandez, I was soon 
refreshed in body and mind by a bath, a meal, clean 
clothes, and sleep. Colonel Charles Hernandez, then 
of Colazzo's staff, is the typical American Cuban. 
Retaining the warm-hearted and chivalrous traits of 
his race, but reared in the free atmosphere of the 
United States, and untarnished by the environment 
of Spain's mediaeval civilization, he is a living exam- 
ple of what the true Cuban may be under happier 
auspices. 

This command led the assault against Victoria de 
Las Tunas, the fourth city of Santiago. It was cap- 

196 




CUBAN CAVALRY AT LAS TUNAS. 




k 



A STREET IN LAS TUNAS, SHOWING HOUSES DEMOLISHED BY 
COLONEL FUNSTON'S ARTILLERY. 



Capture of Las Tunas 

tured on September 13, '97, by Garcia, after three 
days' hard fighting. We^'ler reported tlie city as 
impregnable, and its fall caused great chagrin in 
Spain. Standing in an open plain, it was defended 
by twenty-one blockhouses, and a heavy stone cuar- 
tel, which was alone garrisoned by two hundred 
men. By throwing up intrenchments at night, Garcia 
was able to hold his ground with small loss. His 
tactics might have been profitably followed by Shaffer, 
both against San Juan and Caney, where infantry 
were exposed to a galling fire, and positions stormed 
without artillery support. Colonel Funston was in 
command of the artillery manned by Americans and 
Cubans. The guns were intrenched within four 
hundred yards of the city, and for three days the 
bombardment continued, until the outworks and forts 
were reduced. The stone cuartel remained standing. 
The Cubans then stormed the city, the dynamite gun 
was rushed through a breach in the back of a house, 
and opened fire through a window against the cuartel 
just across the street, which was soon in ruins. The 
garrison then capitulated. The insurgent loss was 
sixty-three, including an Englishman, Major Chap- 
leau, killed by Funston's side. Of the fifteen hun- 
dred defenders, forty per cent were killed or wounded. 
The latter were well cared for, and all the captured 
soldiers were liberated on the signed promise of their 
commander that they should be returned to Spain and 
no longer bear arms. This promise General Luque 
never kept, and many of the men, enraged at their 

197 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

return to duty, deserted to the Cubans. The bloody 
guerillas taken in Las Tunas were tried by court- 
martial and sixty of them executed. All conscripted 
Spaniards were spared. The guerilla fiends received 
no mercy from the Cubans, and though far more 
equal wars give precedents, I think greater clemency 
might have been exercised. Men avenging the honor 
and death of wives and sisters at the hands of such 
brutes may be excused severity, but despite their 
crime, an execution of sixty at once was demoralizing 
to the victorious force. 

In Tunas I discovered dozens of shrapnel, fired by 
the Cubans, unexploded. Upon close examination I 
found the fuses were dummies, the bursting charge 
sand. Some rascally firm had supplied the fake pro- 
jectiles at an exorbitant price in New York, knowing 
full well that filibusters could get no redress in 
Federal courts. 

At the end of January, '98, General Pando from 
Manzanillo planned extensive operations with 35,000 
men. Three columns were to march simultaneously 
against Garcia : General Luque from Holguin ; Vara 
del Rey, killed later at El Caney, from Jiguani; and 
Linares from Santiago. Thus assailed from all sides, 
Garcia was to be annihilated. Early in February, 
Luque and Vara del Rey had joined columns at San 
Francisco, and though warned that I could not con- 
tinue my journey, I had no stupendous difficulty in 
evading the enemy, and seeing the futility of their 
movements. 

198 



Garcia's American Officers 

During one running fight that I witnessed, General 
Luque's son was dangerously wounded, and the 
whole column placed at fault by four hundred rebel 
cavalry, who marched and countermarched on the 
flanks, firing into the ranks, but never fighting a 
pitched battle against the 12,000 soldiers. The 
number of Spanish shell fired into the woods without 
touching this skeleton force, before Luque retired to 
Gibara, I cannot estimate. 

When riding south to Jiguani a few days later, I 
went ahead, and through a faulty guide I rode into 
the enemy, and escaped capture only by swimming 
my horse across the broad and swift Cauto River that 
threatened every moment to sweep me down stream 
to be riddled by the forts at Embarcadero. I re- 
crossed later in safety, and rejoined my escort, who 
had camped in the woods. As we advanced east- 
ward, cattle grew scarcer, and we should have fared 
badly but for the fortunate advent of Brigadier 
Portuondo, who had a stock of smoked beef or 
pemmican. 

During a brief visit to the comanand of Colonel 
Esteban, I met two American artillery officers, Major 
Joyce, then going to the Government, and Major 
Latrobe, now captain, U. S. A. I had nearly starved 
for a week, and Latrobe generously insisted that I 
should take a square meal from his very scanty store. 
Penny, Jones, Janey, and Divine, the other American 
officers with Garcia, I missed by a few hours. They 
were then preparing to leave Cuba after months of 

199 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

arduous service. At Guimaro, Las Tunas, Guisa, 
and a dozen hard-fought battles they did yeoman 
service. 

On February J^ camped in a cow-shed at El 

/ Jardin, I was awakened at an early hour by a breath- 
less guide. "Despierte usted, Senorito! For God's 
sake get out from here ! General Vara del Rey is but 
a mile away; his advance guard is just coming in I " 
We packed up and rode out rapidly, only to be 
stopped by a second scout. "Halt! as you value 
your life, sir! The gringoes are just ahead, camped 
on that hill." We were between two columns. Por- 
tuondo had sent his impedimenta into the woods, and 
struck across country to the South ; but I was anxious 
to reach General Garcia and complete my mission. 
To turn off meant days of delay, so I joined a ragged 
Cuban guerilla preparing to skirmish, hoping to get 
through during the fight. 

Six Cubans held a dummy position, firing re- 
peatedly at the advance guard. When they retired, 

* the enemy with a loud cry of "Viva Espaiia! " 
dashed up to capture the trinchera. In a moment 
I saw the tactics — the place was mined. A young 
lieutenant led the useless charge, and I shuddered to 
think of his fate. The electrician, a French chemist, 
lay in the grass behind me. " Let her go, my brave ! " 
yelled our comandante. A muffled roar followed. 
It was a moment too soon. The young Spaniard 
staggered back, blinded by fragments of earth and 
stone, his face streaming with blood; others were 

200 



A Narrow Escape 

injured, but one only was killed. Fired a second 
later, the bomb would have blown to pieces the en- 
tire company. 

Latin courage is curious ; the ardor that after suc- 
cess will lead men to rush unrestrained to death or 
victory is damped by reverse. Cuban and Spaniard 
show the same characteristic. The eager Cubans 
who had waited impatiently to charge into the enemy 
under cover of the explosion, now hurriedly retired, 
allowing the Spaniards to camp unchecked. 

The major collected fifteen of his cavalry to escort 
me three leagues beyond the enemy. We passed the 
blackened ruins of the town of Baire, the cemetery 
of which still remained intact, though next day the 
Imperial troops terribly defiled the graves of those 
interred by the insurgents. Over the gate, under a 
skull and cross-bones, the following legend was in- 
scribed : "Sum quod eris, fui quod es." (I am 
what thou wilt be, I have been what thou art.) 

We rode on into an open plain fringed with w^oods, 
and though two houses were smouldering, we had no 
thought of Spaniards there, when a volley rang from 
the trees. Our jaded horses intelligently responded 
to the spur, and we crouched in the saddle and gal- 
loped madly to cover. But the enemy's aim was 
execrable. The pentacapsular Mausers fire quickly, 
and five distinct volleys rang out before we had 
reached the trees. At eight hundred yards' range, and " 
despite the fiat trajectory of the rifles, no one was hit, 
though the bullets whistled uncomfortably about us. 

201 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

It began to rain; we had lost our trail, but we 
plunged forward through the calamiferous swamps 
and dense bush, seeking a place to camp. Seeing 
lights ahead we rode cautiously toward them. To 
my relief the friendly challenge rang out, "Alto! 
Quien va?" I was about to reply "Cuba! " when to 
my utter astonishment the guide yelled "Espana!" 
and whispering "Spaniards!" galloped madly away. 
The Spanish outpost, thinking to entrap us, had 
given the Cuban challenge, and thanks only to the 
" practico " who detected the Peninsular accent, were 
we saved. The sentry, thinking by the answer that 
we were a friendly party, loudly shouted to reassure 
us, saying they were Spaniards, not "mambis," that 
the challenge was a ruse, and we must come back. 

At a late hour we off-saddled until daylight and 
then found our road. On the afternoon of the 16th, 
heavy firing was heard at Descanso. A company of 
Garcia's infantry was skirmishing with Vara del 
Key's column, then erecting a heliograph tower and 
fort on a hill to signal between Santiago city and 
Jiguani. 

It was nearly dark when we rode round the enemy's 
flank, and found General Sanchez coolly camped, with 
his small escort, within a mile of them. We slept 
that night with spent bullets sputtering around, and 
at daybreak I reached General Calixto Garcia's ^ 

1 General Garcia had one of the most picturesque records of the 
war. His father was a wealthy land-owner, and when the war 
broke out in '68 young Calixto Garcia took the field with a large 

202 



General Garcia 

headquarters, a league distant, and ended the perilous 
ride. 

contingent of his father's laborers. After considerable service, 
during which he captured Jiguani and Holguin, he led a small force 
against the Spaniards at Santa Maria on September 3, 1873. His 
command was surrounded and cut up almost to a man. The cavalry 
spurred in to capture the leader, and after firing five rounds from 
his revolver, he turned the sixth against himself. The ball, passing 
miraculously up through the chin and roof of his mouth, came out 
of his forehead. He lay long unconscious, and an officer riding over 
the field recognized the leader and ordered him to be brought in. 
Contrary' to expectation he lived, was court-martialled, and sen- 
tenced to be shot with four other leaders. On the fatal morning 
he was too weak to stand, so the imposing spectacle took place with- 
out him. 

Maceo led his followers against Manzanillo, determined to effect 
a rescue, and as the guard there was small, the wounded prisoner 
was rowed out to the warship " San Francisco de Borja " for safety. 
The Carlist rebellion had broken out, and the very next day the 
Spanish fleet, was ordered home, and Garcia was thus taken to 
Spain. 

After eight years in prison at Valencia, he was released and went 
to New York. In 1888 he was the chosen leader of the Guerra 
chiquita, or little war. His expedition was stopped in the United 
States, and he went from Jamaica in a small boat to Santiago, only 
to find the insurgents had heard of his frustrated trip and had 
dispersed. For weeks, thousands of soldiers hunted for him, and a 
price was placed on his head, dead or alive. Then Blanco issued 
an amnesty, offering free pardon and the liberty also of Jose 
Maceo, then in prison, if Garcia would surrender and leave Cuba. 
On these terms he came in, and by explicit orders from Madrid, 
both he and Maceo were shipped to Spain and sentenced to life 
imprisonment. 

Blanco protested against such treachery, and threatened to 
resign ; so Garcia was liberated on parole. Maceo escaped to 
Gibraltar, where an officious police inspector gave him up to Spain. 
The British Government immediately discharged their official, and 
demanded the return of the prisoner, arrested wrongfully on British 
territory. Thus Maceo also escaped his fate. 

Garcia, held under surveillance, made his living by teaching 
203 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

English, and finally gained a position in the Spanish Bank. He 
gave his sons an excellent education, the eldest graduating at Cam- 
bridge Universitj. Carlos and Justo, the two younger, obtained 
their degrees in Madrid. When Weyler went to Cuba, Calixto 
Garcia determined to escape and take the field against his notoriously 
brutal enemy of '68. With his son Carlos he escaped on horseback, 
successfully crossed the frontier, and eventually reached New York.. 
There they purchased and outfitted the steamship " Hawkins," for 
Cuba, and secretly left harbor only to be wrecked off Sandy Hook. 
Several were drowned, guns, ammunition, and stores were lost, 
and Garcia and his staff were picked up by a steamer, and landed 
half dead in New York, to be arrested for filibustering. He and 
his son were released on their own bond for $2000 each, and after 
cautiously working day and night to fit out the S. S. " Bermuda," 
they forfeited bond and sailed for Cuba, landing safely a few days 
later. With Gomez in the West, the revolution had waned in Oriente, 
but the prestige of the new leader strengthened the cause, and he 
mobilized and maintained the only force in Cuba that could truly 
be called an army corps. 

Justo Garcia, the third son, was then practising dentistry in 
Manila, but he left to join his father in Cuba. Embarking for Lon- 
don on an English liner, he landed at Port Said, where the steamer 
touched and was pounced upon by the Spanish consul. The British 
captain protested, but as the arrest took place in a treaty port, 
where all countries have equal rights, the prisoner was removed to 
Spain. The authorities had only the vaguest suspicion that he 
would join the rebellion, but he was the " son of his father," and 
that gained him a life sentence in the penal colony at Chafarinas, 
North Africa. Being well supplied with money, the young Cuban 
induced a Greek fruit-seller, who made trips from a neighboring 
island, to take him off. In a sorry row boat, Garcia, a fellow- 
patriot Plana, and the Greek, set out on the night of August 4, 1897, 
and after a perilous and almost unprecedented voyage for such a 
craft, they reached Nemours. The French authorities allowed 
them to leave Algiers for France, but they notified Madrid, and 
extradition was asked and granted for thera as Anarchists. In 
Republican France the two men were taken from the train at 
Cette, to be turned over to the Spanish authorities, but the prompt 
action of Garcia's brother-in-law, an American physician in Paris, 
delayed the delivery, and finally the police modified the action by 
expelling them from France. A few weeks later both men had 
landed from the "Dauntless" and were fighting for Cuba libra. 

204 



Colonel Garcia 

Colonel Carlos Garcia, the most efficient officer I met in Cuba, 
had made himself famous by capturing a Spanish gunboat on the 
Rio Cauto. He organized the forces in that difficult district, 
isolating Spanish posts and attacking the convoys, until the two 
thousand mules at Manzanillo and the vast store of bullock-carts 
were lost or abandoned, and communication was only possible by a 
flotilla on the river. With Rabbi, his forces took Guisa, and he led 
the attack on Guamo in person. Here eighty per cent of the Cuban 
forces were killed or wounded. While I was in Oriente, General 
Garcia was giving his younger son the chance to win his spurs by 
detailing him for the most difficult and dangerous commissions. 
At the San Francisco fight against Luque, he led the cavalry and 
was advanced one grade for his daring. Garcia also had two 
daughters. The elder is married to Dr. Whitmarsh of Paris. 
The younger, Mercedes, the idol of her father, was an invalid from 
youth. At every opportunity the sick child in New York and the 
father in the Cuban wilds exchanged letters, and when I left the 
general, I was specially intrusted with a voluminous epistle for 
Mercedes with some flowers from Las Tunas. The doctors said 
that the hope of seeing her father again, alone had sustained her. 
When he died on his way to join her to enjoy his well-earned rest 
she never rallied, and followed her father one week later. 



205 



CHAPTER IX 

Paxdo's Failure. — Garcia's Staff. — Baracoa. — Over 
THE Sierras. — A Frightful Storm. — A Night Attack. 
— Unexpected Supper. — Before Santiago. — The 
Guerilla. — I enter the City. — Cienfuegos. — Out- 
rages against Britons. 

After my narrow escapes in passing Pando's 
heavy columns that were attempting to hem in 
Garcia, I expected to see some interesting fighting. 
But the enemy always seemed to pass our camp by 
half a league, though the Cuban flag flew in an open 
district, and the escort of the general was quartered 
in large sheds of palm-leaf, similar to the camp shel- 
ters used by the British army in west Africa. After 
witnessing the futility of such vast operations against 
this small force, only two conclusions were possible. 
The Spaniards either realized that their cause in 
Cuba was lost, and exertion beyond an aimless march 
of devastation to mislead the people at home was use- 
less, or the generals were wilfully prolonging the 
struggle for the spoils accruing, regardless of their 
country's impending ruin. 
I I was with General Garcia for some weeks in the 
open and fertile district of the Canto River, close to 
the Spanish towns of Jiguani and Bayamo. Extra 

206 



Spanish Operations 

outposts were thrown out around camp, and from a 
neighboring loma we frequently watched the columns 
moving like light-colored snakes over the plain. We 
could see the heliograph on El Galletta flashing in- 
structions to the army in the field, and thus every 
move was revealed to the Cubans, who knew the 
code. At daybreak a party of rebel cavalry would 
sally forth to skirmish, and the thunder of musketry 
would roll through the trees for hours. At night 
the horsemen would return, muddy and bedraggled, 
bringing in perhaps one man wounded, or reporting 
one killed. I witnessed numerous skirmishes, after- 
wards locating the Spanish positions by piles of cart- 
ridge cases almost uselessly expended, and invariably 
some Spanish graves. In these so-called battles, the 
bushwhackers gained the advantage, and the wretched 
Spanish boys wondered why their officers did not 
either rout the enemy, or stay safely in the cities. 
Naturally they had little to gain, the officers every- 
thing, in the faked Spanish victories that were daily 
cabled to Madrid and foisted on the ever-hopeful 
Spaniards. The cross of San Fernando, so liberally 
distributed by the Queen Regent as a reward for 
extraordinary bravery, was seldom if ever deserved 
by the recipients ; not that gallantry in action was an 
unknown quality, but because the recommendation 
from the general went usually to the highest bidder. 

General Garcia was a great admirer of the United 
States, and also of England and her colonial policy. 
While he did not directly favor annexation, he fully 

207 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

realized that it was eventually inevitable. Caba, 
he felt, must form her own government first, and 
become an independent republic that could then 
honorably seek admission to the Union. Forcible an- 
nexation would not be tolerated by the Cubans, since 
they had not fought three years only to change masters. 
The general had selected for his staff chiefly offi- 
cers educated in the States. Colonel Collazo, brother 
of the General of Las Tunas, was chief of staff. 
Colonel Arango, a well known society man before 
the war, Colonel C. M. Poey, commanding the cav- 
alry Escolta, Colonel Nicolas de Cardenas, who can 
boast the bluest blood of Old Castile, and Colonel 
Torriente, once chief aide to Gomez, were prominent 
officers in the Estado Mayor. The son of the late 
General Marti had taken up the mantle of his sire 
and was with the staff. Another college graduate 
from New York, Major Miranda, Majors Lorie and 
Machado, Captains Ferrera and Martinez, Lieuten- 
ants Rosado and Goodrich were other officers serving 
at the time. A New York lawyer named Poey was 
in charge of a Hotchkiss battery, and had just re- 
turned from successfully bombarding a Cauto port; 
his brother, afterwards surgeon, U. S. A., was with 
the medical force. Three brothers Portuondo held 
commands in the artillery, which consisted of seven- 
teen guns, ranging from the modern Sims Dudley to 
an old Sevillian bronze cannon. Lieutenant Preval, 
brother of the American vice-consul in Santiago, was 
chief of the line of communications. 

208 



Col. Zayas. Col. Valiente. Lieut. Rosado. 

Col. Punston. Col. Yieta. Col. Garcia. Col. Portuondo. Capt. Musgrave. 




Col. Salasar. Gen. Portuondo. Col. Lori6. 

Lieut. Escalante. Col. Poey. 



^itt^fjyjj^ %4^ ^^ 




^a^^^i^ 



GENERAL GARCIA AND STAFF. 



Cuban Ideals 

The surgeon-in-chief of Oriente, Colonel Valiente, 
is known beyond Cuba by his self-registering clinical 
thermometer. He generously insisted that I should 
share his pavilion, which was also his operating and 
consulting room and dispensary. He was with Gen- 
eral Jose Maceo when he was killed at El Gato, and 
among other mementos of the war, he gave me the 
fatal bullet, which he had extracted. 

A most interesting figure in east Cuba was General 
Rabbi, the famous old Indian warrior. He was of 
magnificent proportions, and made an imposing figure 
when mounted. General Menocal, commanding the 
Guisa district, is well-known in America as an en- 
gineer, and his brother, then a brigadier in the West, 
painted the- "Landing of Columbus" for the Colum- 
bian Exposition in Chicago. 

One could but be struck with the patriotism that 
had led such men as these into the field. • Realizing 
that while license abounded, liberty under Spain was 
as the Kalendse Grsecse, they had, with their race, 
struggled against the usurpation of man over man, 
first peacefully, but later with armed protest. The 
patriots lacked material, but supreme resources come 
from extreme resolution, and their resolves were 
steadfast, though many an anonymous and forgotten 
hero sacrificed life itself. The Cubans gilded terrible 
realities with the ideal of freedom, but their suffer- 
ings were intense, and since I have seen and know, 
I desire to pay tribute, let those scorn who may. 

Early in March, Colonel Yieta, a survivor of the 
14 209 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

"Tilly," landed with a smaller expedition at Puerto 
Padre. His advent with the news of the diplomatic 
tension between Washington and Madrid, caused 
great excitement in camp. In response to inquiries 
brought by this expedition from the State depart- 
ment, to ascertain the strength of the insurgents and 
their probable attitude in case of war, and since I had 
now procured the signed statements of every leader 
of note, unanimously rejecting autonomy, and the 
exact status of the rebels was of some moment in 
Washington, it was deemed expedient for me to 
attempt to reach the capital with reports of my visits 
to the various commands, and despatches from the 
Assembly. After visiting General Sanchez, the bravo 
and popular commander of the Barracoa district, I 
marched south with General Demetrius Castillo, who 
was then assuming command of the distracted dis- 
trict of Santiago City. My trip in the East had pro- 
vided incident, interesting and exciting, to record 
which would fill many books. 

As General Linares was marching north from Sant 
Ana, I left General Castillo, who was preparing to 
oppose the Spaniards with two thousand men, and 
made a forced march with Captain and Lieutenant 
Maestre, hoping to pass round the enemy by night. A 
significant heliograph message, however, announced 
that all operations were suspended, and the column 
retired. Captain Castillo was sent forward with an 
escort to accompany me through the dangerous San 
Luis district, but he fell sick, and unwilling to delay, 

210 



Crossing the Sierras 

I pushed forward alone with a servant and guide. 
Riding on the camino, we were held up by a fero- 
cious-looking cavalry squad, apparently guerillas or 
bandits. Fight and flight were impossible, and we 
fearfully threw up our hands, to discover that our 
assailants were Cuban irregulars, searching for horse- 
thieves. 

At the zona I luckily met Preval, who had just 
been to secure mail over the barricade at Sant Ana. 
Colonel Congera selected guides and a fresh escort, 
and Preval agreed to accompany me over the moun- 
tains. The Sierras rise like a wall, and though I had 
encountered many steep rides in reaching the South, 
we were now actually mountaineering. We rode zig- 
zag upward , the whole day, and finally reached a 
glorious plateau, sprinkled with abandoned coffee 
estates and covered with cocoa in paying quantities. 
Apparently the fruit had never been plucked, and 
the ground under the trees was covered with wasted 
kernels. We found food very scarce in the moun- 
tains, unripe guava alone sustaining us. It was bit- 
terly cold also, especially at night, and the change 
developed latent malaria. Occasionally T shot a 
jutia, or small species of tree bear, yielding rank but 
edible meat, but the journey was a hard one. The 
people in the higher recesses were half-barbarous, 
Indio-negroes, mixed descendants of those who had 
fled to the hills to escape cruel taskmasters. Their 
patois was a curious conglomeration of Spanish, 
Siboney, and French, and they held a precarious 

211 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

existence. Once we struck the stronghold of the 
Benitez gang, noted brigands in the pahny days. 
They were in sore straits then, but gave us advice, 
respect, and chocolate. We rode for miles, continu- 
ously up and down, encountering no one save solitary 
sentinels from the zona,^ perched on the rocks, watch- 
ing the movement of the enemy in the strongly in- 
vested Sant Ana valley- The Sierras del Cobre rise 
in vast ridges abruptly from the sea, piled back peak 
on peak, their sides clothed with impenetrable thicket, 
jagged with stupendous precipices of volcanic rock 
overhanging the gloomy ravines far below. 

At times our trail led through narrow gorges, the 
rocks rising grimly in solid walls of basalt and iron- 
stone, while in the clefts grew orchids of the rarest 
kind ; veritable treasures for collectors, who can now 
make the ride. In many places the soil was ferrugi- 
nous and my compass was useless. The ruddy hue of 
the ironstone formed a pleasing contrast with the rich 
emerald of the sparse grass and luxuriant evergreen 
that filled the gorges; the scenery was magnificent, 
but we paid little attention to the stupendous pano- 
rama at our feet. My mount went dead lame ; con- 
stant clambering over sharp stones, with precipitous 
trails and even worse descents, had completely worn 
out his forehoofs. It was impossible to halt, and by 
this time privations and lack of food had so told upon 
us that we had not the strength to walk. Then his 
back gave out, and our trip grew protracted, as I 
could only spur the faithful beast a few miles each day. 

212 



A Frightful Storm 

The season of las lluvias was over, but we did not 
escape two frightful storms, during one of which, on 
March 17, we nearly lost our lives. It had been a 
bright day, but toward three o'clock when crossing a 
most dangerous path high on the mountain-side, the 
sudden darkening of the sky, and the exhalation of 
foetid miasma from tlie valley, foretold an approach- 
ing temporal. The sky grew black as ink; we had 
no place for shelter, and clung against the trail cut in 
the mountain-side, which rose like a wall above, and 
dropped in a stupendous ravine below. When the 
tempest burst in all its fury, we momentarily -ex- 
pected to be hurled into the abyss. The horses 
snorted in terror, and reared and plunged on the 
ledge as we crouched beside the rock, holding their 
bridles. The blackness increased, but the whole 
heavens became suffused in light, the jet clouds 
rolled in flame while tlie rock trembled with the 
frightful roar of thunder that followed. The scene 
was wild and magnificent, the rushing wind tore up 
trees by the~ roots, and whirled them over the peaks, 
great boulders crashed down, fortunately bounding 
over our heads, but covering us in ;a shower of 
stones. 

My escort, gigantic negroes of the mountains, lay 
on their faces, while the white sergeant prayed to the 
Virgin for deliverance. Leaves, stones, branches, 
flew by us ; thunder roared at brief intervals, burst- 
ing, crashing, and re-echoing from peak to peak with 
the lurid flashes of electric fluid that played around. 

213 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

We were in, not nnder the storm, the black clouds 
loomed on all sides, rolling together, wrestling and 
parting, and I trust I may never again witness 
so magnificent, yet so frightful a spectacle. Twice 
the earth quaked perceptibly, and a sulphurous smell 
almost overcame us. The old craters and volcanic 
peaks seemed to belch fire and smoke as electric 
clouds hung flaming from the summits. It was as 
if the seventh angel had sounded, and the thunders 
and lightnings and the great earthquake attending 
the doom of Babylon had burst forth. We lay 
speechless with awe, and one realized the infinite 
weakness and insignificance of mere man when con- 
fronted with the stupendous power of the great 
Unknown. The impressions made upon me during 
that storm will never be effaced. 

The tempest died out as suddenly as it came, and 
then w^e realized our cramped position, and crept 
painfully onward, our faces bruised, chilled to the 
bone by our wet clothes. We descended next day 
into the San Luis Valley, a pass leading into Santi- 
ago, and strongly invested by the enemy. We fell 
in with a negro Cuban guerilla and obtained a late 
and unexpected supper. The rebels in reprisal were 
preparing to raid an adjoining ingenio. I was too 
weak to ride out to the fight, but from the camp in 
the foothills could see the brush. The engine-house 
was strongly invested and every aperture belched 
fire. A candela soon lit up the scene, revealing the 
swarthy faces of the Spaniards, and the black visages 

214 



A Nocturnal Raid 

of their negro assailants, for save officers there were 
few white insurgents in Santiago. 

Above the crash of rifles rose the rally "Viva 
Espana!" mingled with "Viva Cuba y Maceo!" 
from the bronze-throated orientals. It was a weird 
scene, the outhouses were soon blazing, while the 
flames raced over the cane-field like the surging of 
rushing water; from the villa rose the frightened 
screams of women. But the Cuban fire soon slack- 
ened, and the fuerza came trotting back, reporting 
the gringoes too strong. They proudly exhibited 
some prisoners of war, pacificos captured in the lodge, 
including the milkman of the district. His cans 
were soon emptied down more needy throats, and 
the men were liberated. Later three soldiers were 
brought in. The insurgents were an irregular band, 
and fearing for the safety of the Spaniards, I hurried 
down to see what could be done, but the rebels 
shared their supper with the prisoners, and they 
were finally sent to Cambote.^ 

1 I had visited Cambote previously. Here several hundred Span- 
iards were living ; some deserters, others, including officers, had 
formed the garrison captured at Guisa. Garcia had liberated the gar- 
rison of Las Tunas on the written promise of the comandante that 
the men should not again bear arms. General Luque violated this 
pledge, and when Guisa fell the garrison were given provisional lib- 
erty only by Garcia, pending the assurance of Blanco or Sagasta that 
the officers and men should be returned to Spain if delivered to the 
nearest post. These simple terms were ignored, so the prisoners re- 
mained. They all looked sick and feeble, and though they expressed 
their gratitude to the Cubans for considerate treatment, they were 
indignant against their own countrymen for scorning the proviso. 
Their mail went regularly by the insurgent boat to Jamaica, thence 

215 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Finding we could not pass down the valley to the 
city, we again took to the hills, crossing the Sierras 
Maestra, rounding midway the Pico Turquino, over 
ten thousand feet above sea level. On the Gran 
Piedra we were above the clouds, and while below 
the day was dull, our eyes rested over an expanse of 
cloudland resembling snow-covered steppes, with a 
glorious dome of sunlit sky overhead. 

Passing down the mountain through the vapor was 
extremely dangerous, and several times my horse 
jibbed, where the trail gave sharp turns against the 
side of the rocky precipice. A false step meant cer- 
tain death, and the sure-footed Cuban mounts seemed 
bewildered by the mist. A trooper ahead of me had 
much trouble with his steed. I warned him twice 
not to use the spur, but his horse stopped dead and 
he gave it a vicious dig. The frightened beast 
sprang forward, missed its footing, and horse and 
rider made a mad plunge into space. Twice the poor 
fellow screamed, but his fall was unbroken, and he 
was doubtlessly dead before he reached the gorge 
below. Saddened with this disaster, sickened by 
hardships and difficulties, my nerve gave out, and 

being sent to El Heraldo for distribution, but no replies were possible. 
In response to the entreaties of these unfortunate men, I obtained 
fresh copies of the stipulations written by General Garcia, and prom- 
ised to see that they reached Madrid. The general also wrote a 
personal letter to Sefior Pi y Margal in Madrid, asking him to exert 
his influence on behalf of these soldiers. I saw that these letters 
were delivered ; but the events that followed obviated the necessity 
of action. One officer, Captain Ferrera, and many of the soldiers 
joined the insurgent army and fought against Spain at Santiago. 

216 



A Magnificent Panorama 

thanks only to Preval did we continue the march that 
day. At length we reached the Ojo del Toro, and 
finally sighted La Galleta, beyond which lay Santiago 
City. On March J.8, after another frightful climb, 
we reached the fringe of mountains on the coast. 
The sea rolled in, far below us, and from that ridge, 
the most extensive view in the world, save the vista 
of Teneriffe, can be obtained. Away to the south, 
shrouded in the sunlit haze of the Caribbean, lay 
Jamaica; on the east, toAvard Maysi, glistened the 
"Windward Passage fringed by the southern Bahamas 
and Hayti. Westward, Santiago seemed a city of 
Liliput, nestling at the foot of the range. Two white 
gunboats, a Ward liner, and the graceful " Purisima 
Concepcion," resembled four toy ships in a midget 
harbor, while a tiny train steamed leisurely out by 
the head of the ba}-. Beyond rose the opposite spur 
of the Sierras that extend to Manzanillo. Exactly 
three months later, I viewed that same scene; but 
with far different emotions, for below flew "Old 
Glory," and the American army was advancing to 
battle for humanity. 

It took us many hours to descend to the beach, 
and, in constant fear of discovery, we camped in an 
old coffee^ill at Las Guasimas. At daybreak we 
passed over the Jaragua iron district, owned by the 
Carnagie Co. Though the insurgents had made no 
attempt to invest the coast valley and foothills, 
everything was in ruins, and Weylerism was rampant 
in the only district in east Cuba where there was 

217 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

positively no excuse for it. Crossing by side trails, 
we passed the forts and gained the camino leading to 
Caney. I left the escort near the Rio Aguadores, 
where we met an American writer, who had just 
reached the manigua. Giving him my spare equip- 
ment, I rode forAvard to reconnoitre the Spanish lines, 
and attempt to pass into Santiago city. 

Riding to a bank I was scanning the line of wire 
and forts a mile beyond, when a clatter of hoofs on 
the road alarmed me. I sprang into the saddle, and 
turned my horse toward the thicket; but the half- 
dead steed staggered painfully, and ere I could urge 
it forward, a returning party of guerilla cantered 
round the bend. The bewhiskered leader, who 
proved to be Colonel Castellvi, of Bourbon blood and 
bloody fame, yelled "Americano, sirrinder!" as if 
proud of his English. I was paralyzed with terror. 
A commission, with government papers, and for the 
Yankees, would be no mean capture ; and the swarthy 
faces of these cut-throats, their grim smiles of satis- 
faction as they drew their machetes and started 
toward me, and my impending fate, were indelibly 
. photographed on my mind in th(i brief second of 
indecision that seemed an hour. Thrice I dug in my 
cruel spurs, until my exhausted horse quivered with 
agony; then he stumbled painfully forward. I could 
feel the machetes of my pursuers uplifted above me 
in my fright, and flung myself from the saddle, only 
to realize that a barbed fence had checked the enemy. 
Retarded by boots and spurs, winged by fear, I raced 

218 



Almost Captured 

to cover as they swarmed through the adjacent 
gap. 

A carbine popped, then a revolver, and as I ducked 
instinctively, I fell headlong, my satchel of papers 
flying from me ; but I was up and on again instan- 
taneously, and plunged into the thicket. Crawling 
far into the tangle, I could hear my assailants' voices 
as they peered into the gaps. Fearful of shots from 
cover, Spaniards seldom ventured into woods. It 
was also past their supper-time, and soon their gut- 
tural cursing was lost in the distance. I ventured 
out just before sunset, and found some Cubans by 
the ford. They stood over the body of my servant, 
who had gone for water to prepare grass soup before 
I passed the lines. The poor youth had been 
captured by those guerilla, and shockingly mutilated 
before death. His eyes were gouged out, his teeth 
smashed, and the hacking of the body did not conceal 
the evidence of unnatural torture that had been 
inflicted before death. It was too late for me again 
to seek Preval, who died, poor fellow, from the 
hardships of the campaign, two weeks after Santiago 
had fallen, and he had rejoined his girl-wife to enjoy 
the freedom he had fought to achieve. 

Hungry, faint-hearted, weary, and in an indescrib- 
able state of mind, I directed the Cubans to bury the 
body, and turned toward Santiago. Flanking San 
Juan, I succeeded in reaching a clump of trees near 
the city outposts. Sentries were lazily pacing from 
fort to fort, the evening gun was fired, its echoes 

219 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

reverberating in the hills, as Spain's banner of blood 
and gold descended from the flagstaff and the buglers 
sounded the nightly retreat. Officers came from the 
forts, the piquet and patrols were mustered, and 
then, gradually, the stillness of night settled over 
the community. In the Plaza, a stranded American 
merry-go-round wheezed out " Sweet Rosie O' Grady " 
continuously, and my beating heart sounded louder 
than the base drum accompanying the melody. Eight 
boomed from the cathedral, and the band of the 
King's Battalion in the Square burst into "El 
Tambor Mayor." 

The suspense of waiting had been awful, but it was 
now time to make an attempt to cross the lines. I 
crawled forward and scaled the first barricade rapidly ; 
the sentry there was chatting with the next post, and 
I was soon against the wires, and between two forts 
that loomed up fifty yards apart. The guards 
lounged round the campfires, cooking their "rancho," 
the sentinels whined out "Alerta," and continued 
their chat, and, after vainly trying to compose my- 
self, I started over the barbed Trocha. The posts 
fortunately protruded several inches above the wires, 
so, scaling the first fence as a ladder, I was able to 
step across from strand to strand, grasping each post 
firmly. Hearing a patrol approaching when all but 
over, I dropped beneath the tangled meshes, soon to 
realize that in the night air of the tropics hoof-beats 
are discernible at a great distance. My alarm was 
needless, for ten minutes elapsed before the "rounds " 

220 



, Into Santiago 

passed. Then I crawled out, my hands and legs 
lacerated and bleeding; but I felt nothing of the 
barbs. I was over, and content. Crawling across the 
road, I reached a large outlying garden, and encoun- 
tered a fortunately friendly watch-dog who barked 
tumultuously as I hurried across the beds and passed 
out toward the city. At the cuartel I received the 
usual "Alto! Quien vive?" but on my answering 
"Espaiia! " and explaining that I was a friend of the 
British consul, the soldier shouldered his rifle and 
resumed his march. The road to the city was clear 
at last. 

For days, in my hunger, I had craved a good 
meal, but now the thought of food was nauseating; 
and with my system enervated by fever and hardship, 
the relish for it has never returned. I passed the 
night in a villanous hotel on the wharf. The 
"Parisima Coacepcion " fortunately was in harbor, 
bound for Batabano. Senor Barbosa, the supercargo, 
and the pilot I knew to be "good" Cubans, and 
through their good offices I was smuggled on board, 
and without ticket or permit left the port that even- 
ing. Two days later we touched at Cienfuegos, 
where I met a jovial Spaniard, the ex-Supervisor of 
Customs at Baracoa, who was returning, wealthy, to 
Spain. He swore eternal if unwelcome friendship; 
but later, when I was taken, a prisoner, to the steamer 
upon which he was returning home, he reviled me in 
the choice language of a Spanish gentleman. 

In Cienfuegos I called on Mrs. Vieta with mes- 
221 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

sages from her husband, of whom she had heard 
nothing for three years. The colonel's family were 
visiting Miss Fernandez, the principal of the Cien- 
faegos ladies' college. I met there an English girl, 
an adopted pupil — Miss Dabregon — whose father, 
when sleeping by his wife's side, was brutally shot as 
a revolutionist by Sergeant Colazzo and two soldiers, 
by order of General Pim, on October 14, 1897.^ 

1 The British consul-general took no action in this matter, 
accepting the assurance of the Spanish general, that Mr. Dabregon 
had been murdered by a thief. Twice Mrs. Dabregon journeyed to 
the Consulate in Havana ; the last time Mr. Arostogui, a brother of 
the rebel leader, but a writer on the staff of Weyler's organ, " La 
Lucha," and singularly also British proconsul, alone saw the dis- 
tracted widow. Finding she could not approach the consul, Mrs. 
Dabregon applied directly to Weyler, who ordered an investigation. 
Subtle as lago, treacherous as Iscariot, he took no action when the 
English lady picked out her husband's murderers and they pro- 
tested that they were acting under Pim's explicit orders. The 
Dabregon estate was afterwards looted and destroyed by the 
soldiers, and the family reduced to poverty. The consul-general, 
Mr. GoUan, recently knighted and retired, was criticised by British 
subjects in Cuba for his tardy action in this and other cases. Sister 
Mary Wilberforce, the English Red Cross delegate, slaved for two 
years among the perishing conscripts in Havana. In petty spite, in 
October, '97, the Mother Superior of the Alfonso XIII. Hospital 
Sisterhood, had Miss Wilberforce shut in a cubicle, and her head 
forcibly shorn. The consul took no action, but advised her return to 
England. The sister still remained at her voluntary post, however, 
even through the blockade, and in June, '98, paid the authorities 
twelve hundred dollars for a portion of Miss Barton's sequestered 
supplies to distribute to the needy. Tliree hours after they had 
accepted the money the Spaniards again seized the stores, as des- 
tined to feed Spain's enemies (starving reconcentrados). Sister 
Mary's bedroom was entered at night by Cassal ; even the private 
stores she had purchased against the rigors of the siege, were taken. 
Upon her protesting, she was placed under arrest in her room, and 
expelled to Jamaica on H. M. S. " Talbot," which had passed the lines 

222 



Outrages on Britons 



to remove refugees. The letters from President and Congress, 
officially thanking Miss Wilberforce for her ministration to tiie 
injured " Maine " survivors, were seized as " effects of the enemy." 
This gentle English lady had been blessed by hundreds of conscripts, 
whose cruel lot she had lightened, and thus Spain requited her. 
Though in shattered health, in July she crossed over to Santiago to 
nurse American soldiers. Mr. Pinckney, the English engineer of 
the Regla Electric Company, was flung into prison as a Yankee 
sympathizer in June, and his effects seized. He was also expelled. 
The consular authorities did not extend protection in the above 
instances. Being in ignorance of their reasons, I am unable to state 
them. 



223 



CHAPTER X 

The "Maine" Disaster. — The Senatorial Commission. 
— To Havana again. — Captured and Deported to 
Spain. — War Declared. — Reception of the News 
IN Spain. 

In Cienfuegos I first learned the particulars of the 
impendmg rupture between Spain and the United 
States. On May 21, '97, Congress had appro- 
priated $50,000 for the relief of starving American 
citizens in Cuba, which was distributed through the 
consuls. On December 21 the President issued a 
general appeal for food and money to assist the 
starving Cubans. Miss Clara Barton had returned 
from Armenia, and immediately became interested in 
the appalling conditions in Cuba, w^hich, in her own 
words, "Out-Turked the Turk." Julian Hawthorne, 
fresh from the scenes of famine in India, also visited 
the island, and described it as worse than the condi- 
tions he had just left. The American people were 
roused at last, and donations of food-stuffs poured in 
to the Relief Committee, and were transported free 
by the Ward Line. The Spaniards were greatly 
angered at even this merciful interference. " Peace- 
ful intervention now, to lead to armed aggression 

224 



The '' Maine " 

later," they argued. So arrogant did their attitude 
become that the battleship " Maine " was sent to 
Havana in February. 

The Weyler faction, headed by Eva Canel, 
Bresmes, and other ultras, looked upon the " Maine " 
as an insult to Spain's integrity. The manifesto 
on the following page was issued broadcast through 
the city. 

This soul-stirring address roused the volunteers 
to frenzy and they indulged in much wild talk in 
the bodegas, but their puerile bombast was not 
looked upon as significant by those who knew the 
speakers. 

It was carnival season in Havana, — a weeli of 
fiestas, bull-fights, and general jollification. What 
recked the Spanish officers and officials if starving 
thousands were dying by scores each day in the 
capital? On the gay Prado, any night after ten, 
hundreds of homeless, emaciated creatures, tiny chil- 
dren almost naked, grown girls and women, often 
clad only in a ragged petticoat, lay helpless on the 
sidewalks. Herded in the worst quarter of Los 
Fossos, where the drains open to the sea, they sub- 
sisted on what refuse they could catch in the flowing 
sewerage. Daughters of once affluent farmers, stood 
knee-deep in the moving filth, grabbing foetid morsels 
of offal to assuage the gnawing hunger of their 
family. At night some eluded the vigilance of the 
police, and crawled into the streets, often to die 
before morning. 

15 225 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 



jEspanoles! 

XVIVA ESPANA CON HONRA! 



^Que haceis que os dejais insultar de esa manera ? ^,No 
veis lo que nos han hecbo retirando a nuestro valiente y 
querido Weyler, que a estas horas ya hubieramos acabado 
con esta indigiia canalla iusurrecta que pisotea niiestra 
bandera y iiuestro honor ? 

Nos imponen la Autonomia para echarnos a un lado y 
dar los puestos de honor y mando a aquellos que iniciaron 
esta rebelion, estos mal nacidos autonomistas, hijos ingratos 
de nuestra querida patria! 

Y por ultimo, estos cochinos yankees que se mezclan 
en nuestros asuntos, humillandonos hasta el ultimo grado, y 
para mas vejiimen nos mandan uiio de los barcos de guerra 
de su podrida escuadra, despues de insultarnos en sus 
diarios y desde nuestra casa. 

Espanoles ! Llegd el momento de accion, no dormiteis ! 
Ensenemos a esos viles traidores que todavia no hemos 
pcrdido la vergiienza y que sabemos protestar con la energia 
que corresponde a una nacion digna y fuerte como es y 
siempre sera nuestra Espana ! 

Mueran los americanos ! JMuera la Autonomia ! 

Viva Espana ! Viva Weyler ! 



226 



The Manifesto 

Translation : — 

SPANIARDS ! 

LONG LIVE SPAIN WITH HONOR! 

What are you about that you allow yourselves to be 
thus insulted ? Do you not realize what they have done 
by withdrawing our beloved Weyler, who at this hour 
would have finished the unworthy and rebellious rabble 
who trample on our flag and honor ? 

Autonomy is forced upon us, and gives positions of 
honor and authority to those who initiated the rebellion, 
low-born autonomists, ungrateful sons of our beloved 
country ! 

And finally these Yankee " cochinos," who interfere 
in our affairs, humiliate us to the last degree, and in 
greater taunt, order us a ship of war of their rotten 
squadron, after insulting us in their newspapers and 
in our own home. 

Spaniards ! the moment of action has arrived. Do 
not go to sleep ! Let us teach those vile traitors that we 
are not lost to shame, and that we know how to protest 
with the energy befitting a dignified and strong nation, 
as our Spain is and ever will be. 

Death to Americans ! Death to Autonomy ! 

Long live Spain ! Long live Weyler ! 



227 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

And on Havana's gayest thoroughfares, with 
"jalousies " flung back and window bars uncurtained, 
numbers of young girls — some forced to a life of 
shame to save their dear ones from starvation, others 
degraded by Spanish officers whose power was abso- 
lute, and then abandoned to these dens of iniquity — 
were flaunted to the public * gaze by harridans, who 
preyed on the defenceless womanhood of Cuba, and 
profited exceedingly thereby. And amid such scenes 
the famed matadores, Faico and Bonarillo, and after- 
wards Mazantini, di'ew thousands of dollars during 
fiesta, and returned with the spoils to Spain. 

El Prado was illuminated, and gay masqueraders 
danced mid the scenes of disease, starvation, and 
death, and drank gaily to Spain. But a few weeks 
before, on the day set apart for mourning the dead, 
the old Cathedral was filled with sorrowing Cuban 
ladies draped in black, while in Spain other heart- 
broken widows and mothers, sisters and sweethearts, 
were pouring out their sorrow to Our Lady, and 
interceding for the dear ones who had perished in 
Cuba. 

Not a Cuban family of prominence but mourned 
some one killed in battle, dead from privation in the 
interior, executed, or done to death in penal hells. 
The Spanish women in Cuba cared little for their 
doomed conscripts, who, dragged from the Penin- 
sula, left their women folk at home to mourn; for 
they were the wives and daughters of loyal Spaniards, 
who helped their country in the hour of peril by 

228 



The "Maine" 

shouting "Viva Espana," and making difficulty for 
the brave old general who did his best to save the 
day for Spain. And these people danced, feted, and 
sang with the officers on the night of February_lg^ i 

The Insurgents had burnt the Havana Bull Ring, 
but gay crowds had flocked over the ferries to the 
Regla " Plaza de los Toros " that day, and pointed 
derisively to the American battleship, comparing it 
to their glorious Pelayo, Carlos V., and Viscaya. 
The carnival was at its height at 9.40, when a sud- 
den column of flame shot skywards, followed by a - 
fearful explosion and a general shattering of glass in 
the few buildings that required it in Havana. 

"El Maine," shouted several Spanish officers with 
significant intuition. 

The battleship had been blown up, and two 
officers and two hundred and sixty-four American 
sailors and marines perished with her. , 

There was a general jubilation among the rabid 
Spaniards, and in one notorious restaurant in Lam- 
parilla Street, "sopa del Maine" appeared on the 
menu for two days, and the joke was thought exceed- 
ingly funny by the habituds. Naval Courts of 
Inquiry were convened both by the United States 
and Spain. The latter, after a few hours' sitting, 
and a cursory examination by divers, returned a ver- 
dict that the vessel was sunk by an interior explosion. 
The American Court employed a wrecking company 
to raise portions of the vessel; they sent down the 
most capable American and English divers procur- 

229 



i 

Under Three Flags in Cuba 

able, and after sifting and weighing every piece of 
evidence, until the type -written testimony filled over 
twelve thousand pages, on March 21, returned a ver- 
dict that the " Maine " w^as destroyed by a submarine 
mine, exploded either by the crime or culpable neg- 
ligence of Spanish officials. ^ 

I firmly believe that the Spanish officials, judging 
Americans from their own treacherous standpoint, 
and fearing that the warship might enforce some 
ultimatum under threat of bombardment, caused the 
" Maine " to be anchored over a mine in case of 
emergency. The mine was then exploded either by 
accident or by some fanatics who believed they were 
thus serving their country. 

Bad as Spanish rule has been in Cuba, it is ridicu- 
lous to think that General Blanco or his officers 
would deliberately connive to hurl a vessel to de- 
struction. Rabid Weylerites were ready to do any- 
thing to embarrass Sagasta and Blanco, and damage 

1 During this critical period Consul-General Lee gained univer- 
sal admiration for his firm and dignified attitude in dealing with 
the Spaniards ; but when eulogizing the brave Virginian, work 
done by his lieutenant, Mr. Joseph Springer, must not be over- 
looked. His years of consular service and knowledge of the lan- 
guage and people made him an invaluable servant to the nation. 
His experience and advice were indispensable to the Consul- 
General; he was the wheelhorse of diplomacy in Cuba. Yet I 
have seen no tribute paid to him, and the State Department has 
overlooked his qualifications and years of service. After the 
declaration of war he was retained only as a consular employee, 
while positions that he could have filled with great efficiency dur- 
ing the war were given to absolute incompetents with political 
backing. 

230 



The American Commission 

America ; and if the explosion were wilful, the blame 
lies with them. 

Soon after the disaster, an American Commission 
visited Cuba to investigate reconcentration. We,^ 
who had moderately described the conditions, had 
been disbelieved, thanks to the previous lies written 
by unscrupulous correspondents on Cuban affairs. 
Now, through the enterprise of Mr. W. R. Hearst, 
who placed his yacht "Anita" at their disposal. 
Senators Thurston, Gallinger, and Money, and 
Representatives Cummings and Smith, made a semi- 
official visit to Havana, Matanzas, and Sagua, to 
inspect the reconcentration settlements. There were 
hundreds of worse places, but these sufficed. Several 
ladies were in the party, including the wife of Senator 
Thurston and Mrs. and Miss Money. Their sympa- 
thetic nature was overcome by a glance at these 
horrors, and the shock from the sights and scenes 
proved too great for Mrs. Thurston. She was 
carried gently back to the yacht, but never rallied, 
and passed away a few hours later. 

Typical of her noble countrywomen, she was ready 
to devote her last moments to the cause of the 
oppressed women and children, and penned an appeal 
for Cuba to the mothers of America. A few days 
later, crushed and broken-hearted. Dr. Thurston 



1 Mr. Pepper, Mr. Caldwell, Mr. McCready, and other well-known 
journalists in Havana at this time,^ad eloquently pressed Cuba's j 
crying need. Caldwell was forced to leave for refusing to allow 
his pen to be moved by Senor Congosto. 

231 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

arose in the Senate and gave a message from those 
silent lips, in the most impassioned appeal ever heard 
in that assembly. 

"For myself I went to Cuba firmly believing the con- 
dition of affairs there had been greatly exaggerated by 
the press, and my own efforts were directed in the first 
instance to an attempted exposure of these supposed ex- 
aggerations. 

"Mr. President, there has undoubtedly been much 
sensationalism in the journalism of the time, but as to 
the condition of affairs in Cuba, there has been no exag- 
geration, because exaggeration has been impossible. . . . 
Please God I may never again see so deplorable a sight 
as the reconcentrados in the suburbs of Matanzas. I can 
never forget to my dying day the hopeless anguish in 
their despairing eyes. Huddled about their little bark 
huts, they raised no voice of appeal to us for alms, as we 
went among them. . . . 

"I shall refer to these horrible things no further. 
They are there : God pity me ! T have seen them ; they 
will remain in my mind forever — and this is almost the 
twentieth century ! Christ died nineteen hundred years 
ago, and Spain is a Christian nation. She has set up 
more crosses in more lands, beneath more skies, and 
nnder them has butchered more people, than all the 
other nations of the earth combined. God grant that 
before another Christmas morning the last vestige of 
Spanish tyranny and oppression will have vanished from 
the Western Hemisphere." 

In closing, the Senator's voice was broken with 
emotion, which overcame him as he resumed his seat. 

232 



Arrival in Havana 

There were few dry eyes in the Chamber, and many 
who had hitherto ©imposed action in Cuba were con- 
verted. The American nation was awakened as 
never before, and the speech cabled to London was 
published throughout Great Britain, stirring the . 
apathy of people hardly aware, until then, that there 
was a Cuban (]^uestion. 

Petty politicians and financiers could no longer 
hold public opinion in the United States; and not 
only did relief pour in, but President McKinley, at 
the instance of a united nation, delivered his histori- 
cal warning to Spain. ^ 

After landing at Batabano without difficulty, on 
March- 28, .and hearing that war was declared with \ 
America, I hurried to Havana, fearing that it was too 
late to escape from the Island. My despatches were 
now dangerously compromising ; so I dropped off the 
train at the Cerro, crossing to avoid the spies infest- 
ing the depot. The crisis was acute, and Americans 
were flocking from the Capital. Since Senor Con- 
gosto had placed my name on the proscribed list, a \ 
half-tone cut of myself from "El Figaro" graced the 

1 There had been men in power in Washington who had worked 
steadfastly against intervention. After the return of Senator King 
from Cuba in January, he and a deputation placed the true condi- 
tions of the Island before Mr. Reed. It is said that the Speaker 
remarked in reply : " If God Almighty allowed these people to 
starve, I think we in the United States can." A New York clergy- 
man has since said that the " Maine " disaster seemed to follow as a 
rebuke from the Almighty, for the fatalism of the elected rulers of 
the nation. 

233 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Rogues' gallery in Colonel Perez's office at the 
Marine Inspection wharf, and with the close surveil- 
lance of outward-bound vessels, both my plans of 
"buying" a false passport or swimming at night to a 
steamer were negatived. Colonel Decker, however, 
was at Key West with the despatch boat " Anita," 
awaiting the advent of the fleet, and by underground 
mail he arranged to steam at night to the San Lazaro 
beach to pick me up. The attempt was to be made 
on April_ 1, but on the previous afternoon I la}'- 
resting in a secluded room at El Pasage, sick, worn, 
and anxious to feel the security of American soil 
again, when heavy footsteps broke my reverie, and a 
rough demand was made at the door. I glanced 
hopelessly at the barred window, seized my revolver, 
to realize the madness of resistance, and hesitated, 
trembling, until a second thunderous demand nearly 
burst the door from its hinges. Colonel Trujillo and 
his valiant myrmidons entered as if bearding a tiger 
in his den when I withdrew the bar, but grew won- 
drous bold when they found no resistance intended. 
Said the bewhiskered Trujillo, with a malicious grin 
of recognition, and tone and manner suave, " General 
Blanco, sir, wishes to hold conversation with you. 
To a gentleman as yourself it is needless for me to 
say my sergeant is prepared for resistance; but a 
coach is in waiting if you care to come quietly." To 
the coach I went, as one in a dream, forgetting that 
I was compounding the secrecy of my arrest by such 
surrender. 

234 



Captured as a Spy 

I was taken to the cuartel at the Punta fortress, 
and within an hour was before some semblance of 
court martial. Colonel Pagaleri fortunately pre- 
sided; he showed me much consideration during my 
examination. I answered all questions frankl}^ 
denial was futile, but my heart sank as charge after 
charge was substantiated by the seizure of the de- 
spatches I had risked so much to secure. A letter 
from the Government to President McKinley, a full 
list of the rebel forces in eastern Cuba, the official 
offer of their co-operation with the United States, and 
three maps I had myself prepared, I felt would seal 
my doom. A private letter from Major Poey to Mr. 
Bisbee of New York, regarding private financial 
business, caused the officers more food for thought, 
however. Might not this Bisbee be McKinley? they 
argued. 

I asked, as my right, that the British consul 
should be notified of my arrest. "Spies have no 
rights but the rope," sneered the portly coman- 
dante, and I was taken out " incomunicado. " My 
prison chamber was dirty, but the rats broke the 
solitude; it was at least airy, a large grated frame 
opening seaward. No bed was provided, but rodents 
and dirt were forgotten, and I sank on the floor worn 
in body and broken in spirit, at this sequel that 
meant failure of all I had tried to accomplish. 

Toward morning I dropped into a troubled sleep, 
and woke at daybreak in a raging fever. The loneli- 
ness also grew terrible as the houi's passed on, and I 

235 



Under Three Flao^s in Cuba 



b' 



had so little spirit left, that I began to feel the sensa- 
tions that lead men to dash their heads against prison 
walls, and wondered how many days would elapse 
before insanity supervened. In the afternoon, I 
bribed a passing soldier to bring me coft'ee. My 
dollar brought a tolerable cup with a stale roll, but 
the fever increased with the chill stone floor, and 
during the second night I wandered deliriously, and 
forgot my troubles. About 3 A. M. the officer of the 
guard came, and he very considerately ordered me a 
cot and rug, which induced sleep, and I awoke 
refreshed. 

I knew nothing of my impending fate. From my 
window I could see La Cabana fortress, and as the 
bloody executions of that death ditch recurred to me, 
I wondered how I should face the rifles of the firing 
squad. 

Below my grating the black waters of the bay 
surged against slimy rocks, and hungry sharks 
showed occasional fins, as they hunted for morsels 
expelled by the foetid sewer at Los Fossos. My bars 
were loose and rusty; but escape from La Punta 
meant a horrible death below. After retreat sounded, 
the guards in the courtyard chattered noisily, and 
interesting snatches of the "spy's" impending fate 
were served up for my special delectation. I had 
accepted those despatches without thought, but I 
could not now face the penalty with fortitude. Spain 
could not have been blamed for dealing harshly with 
me. At such a crisis other cbuntries would have 

236 



The Foreign Office Notified 

shot me without compunction, and in such a war life 
is but of individual value. 

' On Wednesday morning the " Olivette " passed my 
bars. Scanning her decks, I saw that she was crowded 
down with Americans, merchants. Red Cross workers, 
and correspondents, leaving the Island. Before my 
capture. General Lee was preparing to sail, and I\^ 
suddenly realized that with my secret capture no one 
would know of my plight, and I might rot in prison 
before I could communicate with the outer world. 
But my disappearance had been rightly attributed; 
Lewis, McR&ady, and Bryson had made inquiries, 
and assured themselves of my capture before they 
sailed. Long cable messages were sent to England, 
the British Foreign office was notified, and Lord 
Salisbury at once wired Havana for full particu- 
lars. Mr. Creelman, Mr. Nornjan, Mr. Massingham, 
Mr. McKenzie, Mr. Brodhurst, and other prominent 
journalists in London kindly interested themselves 
in my behalf. Mr. Labouchere, Mr. T. P. O'Conner, 
and Mr. Kelly, M.P. who tasted Spanish prison in 
the last war, brought my case before the House of 
Commons, and the authorities in Havana found they 
could no longer keep my incarceration there a secret. 
I was not anticipating help from the British Gov- 
ernment. When one is identified in quarrels of 
strange nations, the consequences must be borne. I 
had frequently gone beyond my province in Cuba, 
but, as Canini says, " Spain ^s history in the Island 

shows one that man can descend to an animal far 

237 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

inferior to a clog, and little better than a tiger." 
Neutrality is forgotten when humanity is outraged, 
and it had been impossible to stand by apathetically 
in the midst of such atrocities. 

The Spanish authorities decided to avoid compli- 
cations by quietly shipping me a prisoner to Puerto 
Rico. Sir Alexander Gollan was then informed that 
I had been " expelled " from Cuba ; he reported it to 
London, and the incident was apparently closed. 

Fortunately there were some friends who were not 
satisfied at the consul-general's terse report of my 
expulsion. Only two boats had left Havana — one 
to Key West, the other a transport bound for San 
\ Juan ; and when it transpired that I was not on the 
American vessel, and that Colonel Perez and a guard 
were seen taking me toward the Spanish transport, 
fresh representations were made. 

In the stifling lower hold of the transport ^ " Buenos 
Aires," with a negro murderer named Hernandez, 
and several hundred yellow-fever convalescents, my 
condition was not enviable. When we reached San 
Juan, thanks to the kindness of Mr. Bronson Rea, 
then in Puerto Rico, I obtained a change of clothes. 

The British Government were demanding the 
release of my friend, Freeman Halstead, corre- 

1 When Decker heard of my deportation, he ordered steam up 
on the " Anita," and prepared to chase the Spaniard to demand my 
person at the point of his two small pieces. Strict harbor regula- 
tions prevented the "Anita" leaving Key West that night, and ere 
he could clear in the morning the transport had too long a start 
from Havana. 

238 



Deported to Spain 

spondent of the "Herald," and also a British sub- 
ject, then in Morro Castle, under sentence of nine 
years' imprisonment as a spy for taking photographs 
of San Juan harbor. Governor-General Maccias, 
having no wish for further complications over one 
of Blanco's prisoners, refused my landing. I was 
rushed off to the " Buenos Aires " again, and sent to 
Spain. 

Shut below in that filthy transport were over a 
thousand invalid soldiers, yellow-fever convalescents. 
To be invalided from Spain's army was to be an 
invalid indeed, and the poor wretches packed in the 
sorry bunks were too weak to move. They vomited 
and defecated where they lay, and the condition 
between decks may be imagined, but not described. 
At night those who had died were carried out and 
dropped over the side ; but the thought of repatria- 
tion in their beloved Spain buoyed up the men wonder- 
fully, though many died directly they reached the 
shore. When I was first conducted below, some of 
these poor fellows reviled me as they lay in their 
misery, "Yankee pig," "mambi," and "nanigo" 
being among the most complimentary appellations. 
Seeing one young soldier, after a fit of retching, was 
hanging exhausted over his bunk, I gently laid the 
limp form back, and readjusted the blanket, thinking 
nothing of the incident. His comrades witnessed 
this simple act of common humanity. No more gibes 
were cast at me, and before I had divined the reason 
of the change, a few petty services to the stricken 

239 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

men had gained me the friendship of every soldier 
below decks, 

A few had brought bottles of common red wine 
from the hospital, and they were not satisfied until I 
had made a pretence, at least, of partaking of the 
precious store. At the end of that terrible voyage I 
was called from berth to berth to say farewell, and 
was deeply touched by their manifestations of regard 
won by simple kindness. These poor fellows had 
been torn from home, and impressed into hateful 
service; and next to the women and children of 
Cuba, I think humanity- called for intervention on 
behalf of the Spanish conscript. Ignorant he w^as — 
often a brute; but he was treated as a galley slave 
by the officers who robbed him, and he at least faith- 
fully served the country that treated him so badly. 

We all suffered severely from cold, and, but for 
the kindness of the supercargo, one of those true 
Spanish gentlemen that retain one's hope for the 
race, who permitted me to sleep on deck several 
nights, I believe I also should have succumbed in 
the stench of the frightful " Black Hole " beloAV. 
But for the hostility of certain oi^cers on board, he 
would have accorded me better accommodation. The 
chief engineer of the vessel proved a Scotchman, 
Mr. Cook, and he also extended me much kindness 
on the trip to Cadiz, ^vhich we reached on April 15. 
Neither General Gonzalez MuSoz nor any of his staff 
who were on board the vessel, visited their men's 
quarters in the holds on the voyage. 

240 



A Pitiful Disembarkation 

The disembarkation at Cadiz was a memorable 
sight. On the starboard side, steam launches, gay 
with bunting, brought out high army officers in re- 
splendent uniforms, diplomats, and a vast crowd, to 
welcome officers and officials returning rich to Spain. 

The port gangway led down to large floats manned 
by Red Cross helpers, who lifted the emaciated forms 
of fever-stricken soldiers from the terrible hold, 
placed them temporarily in clean uniforms to save the 
comments of the crowd on the wharf, among whom 
were country people, wives and mothers and fathers, 
in the last extremes of poverty, waiting to see their 
dear ones. They had walked fifty, sixty, and seventy 
miles to greet the returning heroes — they waited on 
in suspense : they gave cries of horror at the wrecks 
Cuba had sent them. It was inexpressibly sad. As 
I watched those silent tragedies, tears blinded my 
eyes, and I forgot my own distress, — impend- 
ing imprisonment as a spj^ possible deportation to 
North Africa, and the anxiety of my friends to learn 
my fate. One group of Andalusian women ques- 
tioned some of the invalids, — their friend must have 
died on the voyage; several uttered ear-piercing 
shrieks ; one maiden lay writhing on the pier in vio- 
lent hysteria. Mothers at first failed to recognize 
their boys, and then, with gurgles of pain at the 
change, yet joy of reunion, they clasped the saffron- 
hued skeletons in their arms: "My son! My son! " 
Two soldiers died on the pier, and a frenzied mass of 
relatives surged forward, impelled by a sickening 
16 241 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

dread for their individual dear ones. But the guards 
drove them back ; the ambulances were now full, and 
the people Avere forced to endure the suspense until 
the next da}^ 

The chief of police assured me that I should be 
sent to Africa on May 1, and there was some excite- 
ment among the crowd of sight-seers when I was 
taken ashore. The advent of a " Yankee spy " had 
been heralded, and with minds inflamed by the 
spectres of manhood from Cuba, their jeers and ex- 
pletives aroused neither my wonder nor resentment. 

The smouldering fires of Castilian anger burst into 
flame when Minister Woodford was given his pass- 
ports ere he could present the American ultimatum. 
The Spaniards rejoiced over their diplomatic victory, 
and showed no concern as to the result of the Avar 
thus virtually declared. Popular voice had spoken 
never so strongly as the demand of the American 
people that the strife in Cuba should stop, in the 
name of humanity and civilization. No undue 
favoritism to the rebels was manifested; Spain's im- 
potency to check the rebellion had been too long 
proven. On the anniversary of Concord, Avhere the 
American patriots struck the primary blow to tyranny 
and oppression in the Western Hemisphere, both 
Houses adopted resolutions declaring that the people 
of Cuba should be free and independent, empowering 
the President to use the forces of the United States 
to that end, and explicitly disclaiming intention to 

242 



A Solemn Fiesta 

exercise permanent sovereignty or control over the 
Island, — the government, after pacification, to be 
left to the Cubans. 

The day before the formal declaration of war, I 
was released upon the demands of the British Gov-^ 
ernment. Charges formulated against me for beart 
ing arms against Spain were withdrawn when the 
Spaniards found that I must be sent to England for 
trial under the Foreign Enlistment Act, when impol- 
itic truths of their rule in Cuba might be evolved. Be- 
ing captured before declaration of war, the designation 
"spy " could not be sustained, and I was ordered over 
the frontier, with warning not to return to Cuba on 
pain of death. Chaperoned by two celadores of police, 
ordered to see me over the French boundary, but 
by no means adverse to enjoyment en route at my 
expense, I watched the gay fiesta in Seville, where 
the great Andalusian fair was turned into a jollifica- 
tion, to celebrate the impending success of Spain. As 
the great religious procession of the 19th wended its 
way from the Alcazar to the glorious Giralda, the 
people knelt reverently in the picturesque streets, and 
it seemed that the whole nation, fearful of threatening 
peril, sought blindly for divine protection. The in- 
cense permeated the closely packed crowd, familiar 
phrases of the solemn chant were re-echoed from 
mouth to mouth, and as the two massive set pieces, 
"The Last Supper" and "The Crucifixion" passed 
along, grandee, caballero, and peasant, squirming on 
the sanded sidewalks, prostrated themselves before 

243 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the sacred emblem in a touching humility. Two days 
before, the garrison in Cadiz had tendered their vows 
to " Our Lady " in anticipation of the conflict, and to 
the stranger it seemed that the civilians also were pre- 
paring for a crisis with becoming devotion. Before 
the beautiful strains of the Constitutional Hymn had 
died in the distance, a change came over the scene. 

The abject reverence of the croAvd was actuated 
only by ignorant superstition, and with the fumes of in- 
cense thick about them, the worshippers again became 
a mob. Coarse jests were bandied from side to side, 
and mingled with the rallying cries of the bull-ring. 

"Mazantini!" "C ! No! Bombetta ! " "Otre 

caballo!" "Mas picadores." Sparkling Andalusian 
beauties snapped their fingers, or rattled castanets, 
and whirled through the intricacies of the voluptuous 
"fandango;" the bodegas were crowded, while the 
peasants, dressed in finery purchased by many days' 
previous hunger, drank deeply from the kid-skins of 
wine slung behind them. Away the crowd jostled 
toward Las Delicias, through the Vasco de Carruages, 
while from the picturesque low quarter across the 
Guadalquivir, a stream of unshaven bullies and cut- 
throats poured over the bridges and joined the 
throng. 

The proletariat held the sidewalks, the broad high- 
way was filled with carriages of every description 
and horsemen, the animals gaily caparisoned, the 
young ladies vivacious and beautiful in their national 
costume, their mammas and chaperons fat and vulgar 

244 



News of the War in Spain 

in the same trappings. With a roar of acclamations 
and a cloud of dust, a party of picadores galloped 
by, and later, riding like a queen amid her subjects, 
came " Lolita," the lady matador, — a sweet-faced girl 
of seventeen, modest and lady-like in appearance, 
despite the gorgeous toreador costume. Yet she 
kills bulls calmly, though the "torro magnifico " on 
the programme is always a small bullock. 

Horns, whistles, bells, added to the din of voices 
and laughter. It was a pandemonium, clad in the 
gayest of colors and softened by the semi-tropical 
background of palms and orange-trees, the blue river, 
and the picturesque architecture massed indescribably 
in the rear. 

One hour later the stillness of death reigned over 
the city. From afar rose the distant sound of ten 
thousand voices merged as one : " Bravo, matador ! " 
"Muybien! Muy bien! Mazantini!" and I realized 
that no dire disaster had overtaken the gay throng, — ■ 
the bull fight had started, and the first bull had 
fallen. 

That evening a dozen men gathered outside a book- 
stall. In a glazed frame, ten inches square, the 
day's bulletin was posted, announcing the decision of 
the Cabinet to resist to the utmost, and that war was 
imminent. It was fiesta, so the issue of a special 
edition was out of the question. "Manana" the 
twenty-five words scrawled there would be placed in 
type. The few who read the significant tidings 
smiled contemptuously, nay, pityingly. "Pobres 

245 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Yankees," said one, in irony; others shrugged their 
shoulders, drew their capes in place, and swaggered 
off down San Fernando. 

Thousands of pesetas had been spent on lavish 
decoration; and as night fell, and the parks and 
avenues were lit with millions of colored lights, the 
famed old city was a veritable fairyland. I stood on 
the balcony of the Vasadera and looked down on the 
gay masqueraders. Away in every direction they 
spread, promenading in the brilliantly illuminated 
avenues, showering confetti, dancing to the dozen 
bands in the dozen plazas, flirting, drinking, laugh- 
ing. On the Guadalquivir, boats flitted from side 
to side, festoons of lamps w^ere reflected in the 
blue waters, until the river was as a flowing stream 
of light, and the heavens were ablaze with fireworks. 

The unsurpassed brilliance of the scene was intoxi- 
cating, but my mind was suddenly filled with other 
sounds and visions, — the desj^airing cry of the starv- 
ing women and children in Cuba, perishing by thou- 
sands; the moans of Spain's conscripts, wasted by 
fever and hunger, and unpaid for months; the hor- 
rible shambles of the Cabanas, where those who had 
rebelled against a nation's oppression were shot like 
dogs ; the rattle and crash of battle in the manigua, 
the screams of the wounded, and rallying cries of the 
patriots and Imperialists. 

On the eve of a crisis, when the integrity of the 
nation was at stake, and a tottering ministiy was 
striving to raise a paltry sum by public subscription, 

246 



April in Madrid 

all over the country the people were wining, dining, 
and dancing, and expending in worthless spectacle 
hundreds of thousands of pesetas. And Sagas ta, in 
an interview with a foreign correspondent, referred 
with pride to the vast sacrifice Spaniards were pre- 
pared to make in defence of their country. 

On arrival in Madrid next day, I found nothing to 
indicate the war on hand, except that the great daily 
papers had three of their columns devoted to it. I 
was more amused than flattered to find one-third of 
a leading column devoted to my presence in Spain. 
To give an equal space to one who, as the papers 
remarked, was extremely ignorant, for he spoke 
execrable Spanish, and to the manifesto of President 
McKinley that involved two nations in war, seems 
an inexplicable editorial vagary. "Don Quixote" 
signalized the rupture by an indecent cartoon of the 
United States. A valiant mob of " counter-jumpers " 
and students paraded the " Street of Carts," tore down 
a shield of an American Insurance Company with 
impressive imprecations, and fled precipitantly w^hen 
two policemen appeared on the scene. Excited 
crowds of Madrilenos gathered at night in the Puerta 
del Sol and round the prime minister's headquarters 
in the Calle de Alcala; but Colonel Morera had pro- 
claimed martial law, and the people satisfied them- 
selves by yelling for the bandera nacional and Cuba 
Espanola. Weyler was at his house at San Geronimo, 
where he entertained his satellites with multifarious 
stories of his sole ability to crush the Yankees, and 

247 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the Government's duty to act thereon. Statesmen 
had lost their heads; the most gifted of them were 
urging plans of campaign that must obviously fail, 
and the result of their confabulations was nil : they 
left all to God — and Blanco. 

Before crossing the frontier, the celadores suggested 
that they would not seriously object to my witnessing 
the great patriotic bull-fight, provided I took them 
with me ; and being interested therein, I earned their 
undying gratitude by buying tickets for the extraordi- 
nary function. In w^hispers, audible across the arena, 
they begged me not to open my mouth lest my accent 
betray me to the audience. With the Latin hate of 
the Anglo-Saxon at that time, in the presence of 
twelve thousand elite Spaniards inflamed with blood- 
lust and patriotism, the warning was pertinent. 
" Yankee spy " greeted every one who spoke English, 
and Britishers as well as Americans had received 
rough handling on the streets. 

The audience was distinguished, though Sagasta 
and his ministers were too pressed for time to come 
as anticipated. "Weyler, who had just reached 
Madrid, was greeted effusively, and the boxes were 
crammed with the highest in the land, the lower 
class audibly commenting on the absence of the 
unfortunate queen regent and the boy king. "Del 
rey ninguno aba jo," a Spanish proverb, implying the 
equality of all below the king, is a truism at the 
bull- fight, if at no other time. 

After a splendid bout between bull and troupe, 
248 



A Patriotic Bull Fight 

Bombetta stepped out, and with a master-stroke 
brought the panting animal down amid frantic ac- 
clamations. The famed matador responded with a 
smart simile : — ■ 

" As I have triumphed over this magnificent bull, 
so will the glorious Spanish nation, upholding the 
traditions of the past handed them by their illus- 
trious sires, triumph over that shameless animal, 
the Yankee pig I " Yells and filthy expletives rang 
from all sides, though the highest ladies in the land 
were present, — "Death to the Yankees!" "We 
will tweak their noses I" rose with cries unfit for 
publication. Above the din could be heard the 
screams of agony from a disembowelled horse, and 
the moans of the dying bull which had fallen under 
the thrust, but died slowly. After this the people 
wanted more excitement, and in response to the yells 
of "Fuego! fuego! " the next bull was decorated with 
explosive banderillas that burnt holes in the j)oor 
brute's sides and drove him mad with pain; he 
had previously killed seven horses, and blood ran in 
streams from the wounds inflicted by the picadores in 
the encounter. After six bulls and twenty-seven 
horses had been killed, the bloody scene closed. 

Two days later I passed the frontier, spending a 
few hours in the Valladolid district, and in the 
valleys north of the Ebro, with Father Patrick Sinnot, 
of the Irish College, Malaga. The northern districts 
of Spain are the antithesis of the languorous South, 
and a merchant of Alicante has little in common 

249 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

with the sensuous Andalusian. The frightful ravages 
of the Carlist war are still apparent, and the boundary 
walls of the high-roads are marked by hundreds of 
crosses, where rebels or suspects were stood against 
the wall, and summarily shot by the heated Bour- 
bonists. The homely Basques of the Pyrenees had 
heard little of the war, and were far more concerned 
over the depredations of the wolves, and the attempt 
to capture a party of bold brigands who were terror- 
izing the district, despite the advent cf carabineers 
and guardia civil to aid the red-capped frontier 
guards in their suppression. The manifesto of Don 
Carlos that had just been issued roused the dormant 
enthusiasm of a few grandee supporters, but the mass 
of the people wisely looked on the cause as lost, and 
an uprising as futile. 

Once over the border, French antipathy to America 
became strongly marked. At Bordeaux a large crowd 
yelled, "Viva Espana!" and "Death to McKinley!" 
and even in Paris hostility was painfully evident, and 
cartoons against the Yankees, coarse and disgusting. 
Though Rochefort bade them remember Lafayette, and 
denounced Spain, French sympathy, directed by the 
Bourse and holders of Spanish bonds, was strongly for 
the Spaniards. Crossing from Boulogne to Folke- 
stone, were several American families, going to Eng- 
land to escape painful manifestations, and for days 
there had been a general exodus of Americans from 
Paris. The antithesis of this feeling in England was 
distinctly refreshing. Never were the two great 

250 



Blood Thicker than Water 

English-speaking countries on more cordial terms, 
and with few exceptions, press and people extolled 
America's "holy war." The feeling was universal. 

" I '11 show you right here what chums are John 
and Sam," said an enthusiastic American friend to 
me when I reached London; and within an hour we 
had seen two manifestations, dropping in first to the 
Empire, where the casual production of a bust of 
"Uncle Sam," in the regular course of a play, evoked 
a burst of cheering from every part of the house, 
while the band played Yankee Doodle thrice; and 
later, in the Palace Theatre, where the picture of 
President McKinley and the stirring strains of the 
" Star-Spangled Banner " called forth a spontaneous 
ebullition of enthusiasm, from the "full dress " to the 
"gods " in the gallery. 

Seven days later I reached New York en route 
for Cuba. The full report of Dewey's victory in 
Manila on May 1 had just arrived, and it stirred 
the Americans as victory alone can stir a nation. 
The very sky was obscured by myriads of the stars 
and stripes, for "Old Glory" fluttered from every 
point of vantage. From the Hudson came the dis- 
cordant screaming of a thousand steam sirens; bay- 
tug, ocean greyhound, and ferryboat joined to rend 
the heavens, while an immense crowd of patriots 
filled City Hall Square, before the Journal bulletin- 
boards, and sang the National Hymn to Fanchulli's 
band, while tears of effusive joy and gratitude ran 
down many a face. Amid this scene my thoughts 

251 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

reverted to Madrid, and it was easy to imagine our 
Spanish friends had shrugged their snoulders and pre- 
pared for Sunday's bull-fight, to celebrate the vic- 
tory that officials had thrust on the credulous public. 
In the words of the Minister of Marine, "their 
losses had been severe; but they had the sublime 
satisfaction of knowing that the Yankees had not 
only been forced to withdraw (for breakfast), but 
throughout the day were compelled to manoeuvre 
repeatedly." 



252 



CHAPTER XI 

Forming the Expedition for Cuba. — The Voyage. — 
Landing in Cuba. 

Reaching Washington in May, I made preparation 
to cross the Spanish lines and re-enter Havana City 
on secret service. Finding however, that an army of 
invasion would leave for Cuba in a few days, I hur- 
ried to Tampa to join the Fifth Army Corps. The 
regular army was then mobilized, and outwardly all 
was in readiness for a forward move. 

General Wesley Merritt, then the only West Point 
general officer in the United States Army, was named 
for commander of the invasion, and when his ap- 
pointment to lead the Philippine expedition was an- 
nounced, it was universally supposed that General 
Miles would take the army to Cuba. To the surprise 
of every one. General William R. Shafter was placed 
in command of the forming Cuban expedition. An 
officer weighing considerably more than three hundred 
pounds, and suffering from gout, seemed the last man 
to lead an army into a difficult country like Cuba, 
where the activity and intelligence of the leader could 
do much to overcome the obstacles of the country, and 
mitigate risks to the health and life of those exposed 
to such a climate. 

253 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Various generals were nominated from civil life by 
the President; among them Fitzhugh Lee, and Joseph 
Wheeler the famed Confederate cavalry leader. 
Both these officers were '' rebels " in the Civil War, 
and both had proved true as steel in defence of what 
they adjudged their rights. Their appointment and 
the spontaneous expression of loyalty from the South, 
betokened a new era in the history of the Union. 
The war touched true and great American principles, 
and the Blue and the Gray rose shoulder to shoulder 
in response to their country's call. To-day they are 
united by a fresh bond, stronger than the broken tie 
of '61. 

The lack of system in the War Department was 
apparent at Tampa ; confusion reigned, but that the 
army was increased sevenfold by a stroke of the pen, 
must be taken into consideration. Since the available 
transportation facilities under the Stars and Stripes 
could not have carried more than 25,000 men 
from the coast, the Administration is frequently 
blamed for not first devoting its entire energies to 
the equipment of a small army for service, before the 
vast resour(^es of the National Guard were called 
upon, and the department paralyzed by the immense 
mobilization. But the hardly veiled animosity of 
certain powers toward the United States, and the 
possibility of foreign intervention on Spain's behalf, 
made an im23ressive display of military strength 
imperative. 

Tampa, assuredly, was not an ideal spot for the prep- 
254 



The Expedition for Cuba 

aration of an army of invasion. The white Florida 
sand made good camping-ground ; but though drier, 
the climate is scarcely less enervating than that of 
Cuba. The great drawbacks, however, were the 
limited railway facilities and the monopolies enjoyed 
by the Plant Railway Company for everything. 

The Plant System is but a single track, and in 
normal times runs but few trains, north and south 
bound passing each other by tedious side-tracking. 
The sudden rush of traffic overtaxed the possibilities 
of the railroad; the sidings became choked; heavy 
freights mixed with troop specials, and a constant 
tangle of trains meeting on the single line was the 
result. If it were necessary to mobilize the invading 
army in the far South, no Florida port was more de- 
sirable. The camp site at Miami was condemned as 
unhealthy by Colonel Curtis Guild ; and by direct ap- 
peal to the President, the Seventh Army Corj^s was 
promptly moved to Jacksonville. Savannah and New 
Orleans boasted far greater embarkation facilities than 
either. 

Everything in Tampa was expensive, and this en- 
tailed a great hardship on officers and men, who 
frequently were forced to purchase necessaries of food 
and clothing that the commissariat should have pro- 
vided. Despite the exorbitance, however, the officers 
found life tolerable in the palatial Tampa Bay Hotel, 
the great winter resort which became army head- 
quarters. Here the band played at night in the 
Oriental annex, under flourishing palms, and officers 

255 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

danced with briglit-eyed Cuban " senoritas," a num- 
ber of whom had fled from Havana. 

Eager groups also discussed the war, the bronzed 
Indian fighters from the plains sharing the enthusiasm 
with the young subs just from West Point, and the 
civilian appointees, swelling 'neath their newly ac- 
quired rank and uniform, and anxious to do their 
duty, if they did owe both to the political influence 
of their respective papas. Yet it struck the stranger 
as hard to see gallant soldiers who had spent their lives 
in their country's service, wearing captain's bars, 
while unnotable sons of notables strutted around in 
colonel's stars and staff uniforms. Truly such is 
un-American ; and it was distinctly refreshing when 
Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders arrived, to find the 
sons of millionaires and professional men of promi- 
nent families serving as troopers in the ranks Avith 
cowpunchers, packers, and "• bad men " of the West, 
all actuated by the same patriotism, but deserv- 
ing: honor commensurate with their individual self- 
sacrifice. 

Gathered in or around headquarters were consider- 
ably over a hundred war correspondents and artists, 
representing newspapers from every quarter of the 
globe. Evidently Lord Wolseley's young idea that 
the " drones of the Press " were the curse of modern 
armies (for which statement he has since humbly 
apologized) was not shared by the war lords of 
Washington. It was surprising to find that the vast 
majority of correspondents, even those representing 

256 



Press Censorship in Tampa 

great New York dailies, had never seen a shot fired 
in anger, and were absolutely ignorant of military 
affairs. There were exceptions; and London sent 
some tried veterans, as Robmson, Wright, Sheldon, 
McPherson, Nutall, Hands, and Atkins ; but many 
held passes who would never be permitted to accom- 
pany an army in the field by the British war ofiice. 
The rigors of home camps soon proved too great for 
much of this "impedimenta," and it was a greatly 
diminished but very " fit " body of Press knights who 
finally landed in Cuba. 

In Tampa a rigorous censorship was instituted, 
professedly to withhold information from the enemy ; 
but a wrongful advantage of its restrictions was taken 
to prevent disclosures of disgraceful shortcomings. 
This muzzling of the press prevented the discovery 
and rectification of many evils that eventaally cost 
dearly. A judicious censorship was necessary ; the 
despotic gag was not. Mr. Bigelow, who pointed 
out the shortcomings of the invading army^ was 
denounced as unpatriotic ; but writers who had 
loudly cried " traitor " plagiaristically confirmed his 
statements, when proved by time, but too late for 
rectification. - 

Hundreds of expatriated Cubans living in Ybor 
City formed themselves into companies of volunteers ; 
and swelled by natives from all parts of the country, 
three strong contingents were raised, commanded 
respectively by brave old Lacret, who had slipped 
over from Cuba a few weeks previously, and Generals 
17 257 



1 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Nunez and Sanguili. Colonel Janiz, the brave little 
doctor of Camaguey, was now his chief of staff, Karl 
Decker and Herbert Seeley were honorary members, 
and among other officers I was delighted to find young 
Mass, now a major, Frank Agremonte, Aguirre, and 
other brave fellows whose past services in Cuba and 
consequent sufferings in Spanish prisons had by no 
means deterred them from responding again to their 
country's call. General Nunez was joined by Colonel 
Mendez, two sons of the Morales family, and two New 
Yorkers, Thorne and Jones, all of whom did excellent 
service later in Cuba. Dr. Castillo took charge of 
the " Florida," and landed the expeditions safely. 

General Shafter's force was ever sailing " to-mor- 
row," until " maiiana " had a Spanish significance, 
and the wait seemed endless. 

The military authorities punctiliously enforced 
trivialities to the letter, and it was surprising to 
see the laxity and consequent disorder in more im- 
portant matters. Sanitation and the water supply of 
the camps seemed a secondary consideration ; the 
issue of rations and suitable outfits to the army 
would have discredited a staff of school-boys. The 
officers of the regular regiments smiled grimly, but 
could say nothing. Seven miles of freight cars were 
stalled in the sidings between Lakeland and the Port. 
The stores had been rushed forward indiscriminately, 
no manifests were provided, and no specific attempt 
was made at headquarters to evolve order from chaos. 

A few details of intelligent non-commissioned 
258 



The Spy Farce 

officers could have gone through the cars and tabu- 
lated their contents; but if beans were wanted, a 
search was made until they materialized, and the 
same cars would be overhauled by men searching for 
beef or tomatoes later in the day. Thus only the 
most necessary stores were brought to light, and tons 
of delicacies for the sick and medical stores were 
never unloaded. Great blame has been heaped upon 
the Administration for the want of everything in 
Cuba. The fault lay rather with the lack of ad- 
ministrative ability evinced by the authorities at 
Tampa. Supplies in abundance were shipped south 
to the army, but were never unloaded from the 
trains, though their inclusion in the equipment of 
an army on foreign service was imperative. 

Extraordinary energy was shown at Tampa im 
hunting down spies.^ This sp}^ scare was a scream- 
ing farce save for the luckless victims caught in the 
toils. It is difficult to discover either the value of 
information that could be gained around the camps 
of the regular army or a method of transmitting the 

1 The arrest of the boy Garcia, son of Port Tampa's mayor, and 
the half -crazed Vanderbilt, just from a Spanish prison, were ridicu- 
lous. But the imprisonment of Mr, Castellanos for the heinous 
crime of receiving a letter signed " Bernabe," which many knew to be 
from his uncle, Mr. Bernabe Sanchez, British consul at Nuevitas, 
then in New York, but which the astute " secret service " decided 
might be from Senor Bernabe Polo, Spain's political agent in 
Montreal, and his incarceration for weeks in the filthy civil 
stockade with negro criminals, without a chance to clear himself, 
were an outrage adjudged impossible save in Spain. Emaciated 
and with a racking cough, Castellanos was finally dragged before a 
court-martial at Atlanta, and at once acquitted. 

259 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

news to the enemy. The cable was useless ; no one 

knew the date of sailing ; everything else had been 

printed in the newspapers and magazines, so the 

/ quest of Spanish agents would be futile in Tampa. 

The order for a general advance arrived on June 
5. Its promulgation at 10 p. M. is history ; it was 
war, not opera bouffe : it emanated from the com- 
manding general, not Wilson or D'Angelis. "All 
who were not on board the transports by daybreak 
would be left behind." 

In Liberia, President Cheeseman caused a rush of 
dusky admirals to the vaunted " Rocktown " by such 
procedure, and I had laughed at the ostentatious 
negroes, en route for hostile Kroos. In Tampa one' 
could not laugh. Officers and correspondents dashed 
off to their quarters to pack, dress, and catch the 11 
train for war. It arrived at 5 A. M. and we reached 
the embarkation pier at 6. Whole battalions Avere 
moved in the rush. Regiment after regiment had 
hurried down to the narrow pile dock, which was soon 
packed indescribably with men and baggage. Troops 
at the extreme end of the pier were afterwards as- 
signed to transports moored at the shore end, and 
vice versa. The embarkation resembled the sailing 
of a vast excursion party rather than a military 
movement. With the capacity of each transport, 
and the roster of each regiment before him, the 
youngest officer could have made effective assign- 
ment and saved such dire confusion, which took two 
days to untangle, and entailed much sun-exposure 

260 



The Invading Army Sails 

and hardship on the soldiers. But toward evening, 
June 7, all was ready. 

Boom ! went a saluting gun, and away went trans- 
port after transport, — the bands playing, the troops, 
relieved from the tedium of the wait, cheering as 
only such enthusiasts can cheer. But a gunboat, 
one time yacht, had sighted two tramp steamers, and 
from unexplained reason, taking them for Spaniards, 
showed a clean pair of heels to Key West with the 
tidings. 

" Stop the expedition," cabled Washington, and 
the leading transports were headed off far down the 
bay and recalled after a long chase by the " Helena." 
A weary wait ensued,^ the men, cramped on the 
vessels which were fitted and filled like cattle-ships, 
grew sick with the delay. The water grew stale ; 
the lack of exercise, and the foul air of the crowded 
holds in the fierce semi-tropical heat, soon affected the 
troops ; and the halt laid the foundation of many a 
subsequent death, beside the loss of a dry week in 
Cuba. 

One week later we sailed. On the 13th the flag- 
ship "Seguranca" signalled the start ; and with colors 
flying and bands playing, the vessels glided out to 

1 General Shafter's force consisted of 11,000, regular infantry, 
2000 volunteer infantry, 2500 regular cavalry, and 500 volunteer 
cavalry, with four batteries field artillery, two batteries siege 
artillery, a battalion of engineers, and detachments of the signal 
and hospital corps, about 16,000 men all told. 

The transports were coasting steamers subsidized by the Govern- 
ment, and showing every evidence of their rough conversion into 
transports. 

261 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

mid-stream and dropped down toward the sea. As 
the battery on shore boomed out a farewell salute, 
the soldiers swarmed to the deck and rigging, and 
the air was rent with a shout of triumph from six- 
teen thousand throats. The cheers were taken up 
on shore and echoed and re-echoed in pine forest and 
everglade. They were not evoked only by the 
usual zest for war shared by all men, the savage lust 
to fight which lies dormant in the piping times of 
peace. Those troopers knew they had a mission to 
fulfil. They remembered the blackened wreck in 
Havana Harbor, and the sailor comrades sleeping in 
that foetid slough ; they thought also of the women 
and children crying aloud for deliverance from star- 
vation and despair, of the ragged patriots fighting for 
liberty as their own fathers had fought — but for far 
smaller issues — in the War of Independence. Upon 
the grimy coal-dock, a group of Cuban ladies, wid- 
owed and orphaned exiles, knelt, praying with 
tear-streaming faces for divine benediction on the 
liberating army. 

Petty politicians have used the war for their own 
purposes, thimbleriggers have not been idle ; but to 
the close observer it was evident that the war was a 
war of the people, the will of the multitude, inflamed 
perhaps by exaggeration and misrepresentation, but 
nevertheless exerted for a just purpose when un- 
varnished facts stand forth. 

Twenty hours after the start was signalled we 
rounded Dry Tortugas, and in double column the 

262 



The Trip to Cuba 

fleet headed Cubawards, flanked on either side by the 
guard of warships. The massive cruiser "Indiana" 
held to the shore side, while the aggressive torpedo- 
boat "Porter" dashed inshore at intervals, on the 
lookout for any lurking gunboat of Spain that might 
emerge on a forlorn hope, sink a transport, and meet 
the inevitable fate gloriously. The "Annapolis," 
" Bancroft," " Castine," " Helena," " Morrill," " Man- 
ning," and " Hornet " guarded the fleet of transports 
on the voyage, the " Detroit," " Osceola," and " Erics- 
son " acting as scouts. 

The first land sighted was the sandy loam on Cayo 
Romano, and as the sun set in tropical suddenness, 
a fire flickered from the summit and was answered 
by a second flare on the distant heights of Cubitas : a 
message from the watchful guardia costa to the 
beleaguered Cuban Government, which has meted 
isolated justice in spirit rather than in letter, that the 
day of Cuba's triumph was at hand. 

We had two alarms : two Spanish gunboats came up 
boldly, but dashed into Nuevitas when the " Osceola " 
steamed out to engage them, and later mysterious 
vessels sighted at night near Lobus, disappeared in 
the darkness as the warships raced to meet them. 

The stoutly built British lighthouses fringing the 
Bahama Isles, alone broke the monotony of sea and 
sky after this, and as the three and one-half days' 
trip became lengthened into six days and seven 
nights, every one grew heartily sick of slow travel 
and cramped quarters. A call was made at Man-of- 

263 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

War's Bay, Inagua Isle, a little-known British pos- 
session lying midway between the extreme points of 
Cuba and Hayti. Passing through the Windward 
Passage, the mountains of Santiago loomed into view 
on the 21st. 

Everything was quiet and peaceful, the transports 
lay to off Morro Castle, far out of range, and noth- 
ing but tiny clouds of smoke marked the presence of 
the blockading fleet, hidden below the dip of the 
horizon. For twenty-four hours we lay there. Gen- 
eral Shafter joined Admiral Sampson, and they landed 
at Asseredo to hold conference with General Garcia. 

On the 22d plans were perfected, and the trans- 
ports headed to Daiquiri, sixteen miles east of Santi- 
ago. Here the Jaragua Iron Company own an iron 
pier for loading the ore, and at an early hour, as the 
warships drew near, a great column of smoke and 
flame went up : the Company's great storehouse and 
the township were fired by the Spaniards. As the 
garrison evacuated, the fleet bombarded the forts 
and road, checking the advance of some Cuban 
soldiers, mistaken for the enemy. At 10 A. m. boats 
were lowered and the first regiment, the 8th In- 
fantry, landed without opposition. Horses and mules 
had to swim ashore, and all the men landed in a 
heavy surf in small boats, and not until the next 
evening had the cavalry and Lawton's brigade dis- 
embarked. 

The landing of the army was picturesque and 
spirit-stirring. As the sun rose above the mountains, 

264 



Landing of the Army 

a flood of lustre was thrown over the fleet of trans- 
ports and massive warships, lying off shore on a sea 
of clearest blue. Away toward Guantanamo, the 
water shone like liquid gold, the waves washing over 
the base of the distant promontory in white cascades 
as the regular undulations were broken by the rocks. 
The appearance of the romantic shore was heightened 
by the debarking troops, forming up on the yellow 
beach, their arms glistening bravely in the sun, while 
just above them lay the little town backed by the 
lofty Sierras, the grim volcanic cliffs stretching west- 
ward, a dividing line between the expanse of sea and 
sky. 

Our landing continued without molestation. On 
Thuisday the ^2od a distant rattle of musketry was 
wafted over Los Altares, six altar-shaped foothills, 
and huge columns of smoke crept up against the sky 
line. The Spaniards were burning the small towns 
and withdrawing into Santiago. General Lawton, 
with the 1st and 22d Regular Infantry, 2d Massa- 
chusetts, and detachments of the 4th, 8th, and 25th 
Infantry, pushed ahead into Siboney, finding it al- 
ready occupied by Cubans under General Castillo, 
who had attacked the rear guard of Linares, as they 
were firing the town. The Spaniards fled, leaving 
stores and ammunition intact. They tried to de- 
stroy the railroad as they retired, but Colonel 
Aguirre and some Cuban cavalry followed them 
up, and the Imperial troops continued their flight. 
At Aguadores, which was strongly garrisoned, the 

265 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

railroad bridge over the creek was blown up with 
dynamite, to prevent our direct advance along the 
railroad. 

The country within nine miles of Santiago was 
now in our hands. The base of operations was moved 
from Daiquiri to Siboney, a pretty little town, in- 
habited by the employees of the Iron and Railroad 
Company. General Linares had made preparation 
to vigorously oppose a landing here, and two almost 
perpendicular cliffs were terraced with trenches 
carefully masked from top to bottom. He hoped 
the troops would walk into this trap when they 
found the town seemingly deserted, and he could 
then open a hidden fusillade from either side with 
open country behind for retreat. A few searching 
shells from the fleet soon caused him to alter his 
decision, and the troops evacuated this stronghold, 
Comandante Billen being killed by a chance shell. 

The warships continued bombarding Aguadores, 
and the Spaniards replied vigorously. One shell 
struck the "Texas," killing Ensign Blakeley, and 
wounding five others dangerously, and the gunboats 
that could be spared from the blockading squadron 
were unable to silence the coast batteries. 



266 



CHAPTER XII 

The Fight at Guasimas. — The Enemy Repulsed. — Dis- 
embarkation AT SiBONEY. — Commissariat Short- 
comings. — Garcia's Arrival. — A General Advance 
Ordered. 

General Shaftee, remained on the Seguranca, 
with his plan of campaign. General Wheeler as- 
sumed command on shore, and conflicting orders 
resulted. General Chaffee's Brigade was ordered to 
form the advance in conjunction with Lawton's divi- 
sion, and reached Jaragua at dusk on the 23d. 
General Young's cavalry brigade, with General 
Wheeler, then passed these outposts and advanced to 
Siboney. The Cubans reported the enemy in force at 
Guasimas, and after General Wheeler had reconnoi- 
tred the position with General Castillo, he ordered the 
cavalry to attack at daybreak. - At 4 A. M. the Rough 
Riders marched over the foothills by a thickly wooded 
trail, any section of which invited ambuscade and 
annihilation, had the Spaniards possessed initiative. 

General Young, with the 1st and 10th Cavalry and 
four Hotchkiss guns, advanced along the main road. 
The enemy, neglecting to attack either force sepa- 
rately, held a position on a plateau where the trail 

267 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

and road converged. General Rubin intrenched his 
forces in a disused Bai:cardi distillery, with rough 
trincheras built at an angle obtuse to the approaches. 
Three companies of the Puerto Rico Battalion held 
his right, commanding the main road, while oppos- 
ing the Rough Riders, Major Alcaniz commanded 
half a battalion of the San Fernando Infantry; two 
companies of the Talavero Regiment, a company of 
engineers, and two Plasencia guns held the centre.^ 
General Young deployed his men without dis- 
covery within 900 yards of the Spanish position. 
The Rough Riders, however, advancing down the 
trail, were met with a terrific fire, which checked 
them in some confusion; Captain Capron, Lieuten- 
ant Fish, and several men being killed and many 
severely wounded. The raw volunteer troopers, 
however, behaved splendidly. Colonels Wood and 
Roosevelt threw out their troops in skirmish order 
through the chapparal. The regular cavalry had ex- 
tended their left flank, effecting a junction with the 
Rough Riders. A semicircular line of attack was 
thus formed, but owing to the dense undergrowth, the 
American fire could not be effectively maintained 
until a series of advances, in face of a hail of bullets, 
had brought the line to within 300 yards of the Span- 

1 The ofHcial reports show that the American generals have 
overestimated the strength of the enemy. From trustworthy 
sources, verified by a close examination of the ground directly 
after the battle, where the piles of expended shells showed the 
position of each soldier, I learned that only eleven hundred of the 
enemy held Guasimas ; not four thousand, as claimed. 

268 



The Fight at Guasimas 

ish position. Pouring in heavy volleys from their 
carbines, the cavalry then surged forward, the 
enemy's right flank falling back in good order be- 
fore the Rough Riders, who were now enfiladed by 
Rubin's mountain artillery, and the infantry supports 
intrenched along the ridge. In a few moments the 
fire of the regulars drove back the Spanish left, and 
after Captain Alcaniz with the " Talaveros " bravely 
sought to cover the retreat of the guns and the 
wounded, the entire force fell back in confusion and 
withdrew to Santiago. They left but thirteen dead 
on the field, and removed their wounded, which were 
many. 

At the supreme moment Captain Taylor, who had 
heard of the battle, came up with three troops of the 
9th Cavalry. Several companies of the 71st Regi- 
ment also hurried to the front, but these reinforce- 
ments were not required. 

Considering the disposition of the enemy, the 
American loss was extremely light. From a total 
strength of 964 men, sixteen, including Captain 
Capron and Lieutenant Fish, were killed, and fifty- 
two wounded. Majors Bell and Brodie, Captains 
Knox and McClintock, and Lieutenants Byram and 
Thomas were severel}^ wounded. Mr. Edward Mar- 
shall, the war correspondent, was shot through the 
spine during the battle.^ The Rough Riders gained 
unstinted praise for their bravery at Guasimas. 

1 Owing to the lack of bearers, the wounded fared roughly, and 
hearing that good treatment would prolong Marshall's life, Messrs. 
/ 269 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Colonel Roosevelt, after working incessantly to 
place the navy on a war footing, raised the regiment 
of cowboys for scouting in Cuba. But the antithesis 
of cowpunchers flocked to the corps, — tenderfoot 
dudes, first tolerated, afterwards beloved, by the 
ranchmen, — and an excellent camaraderie prevailed. 
Colonel Roosevelt has been charged with going to 
war to become Governor of New York. One of his 
men, replying to this, said, " If the Colonel was look- 
ing out for a prospective governorship, it must have 
been in Hades, for no one courted death more." I 
have seen Colonel Roosevelt gently soothing his 
wounded, fearlessly leading a charge, addressing 
meeting after meeting during his political campaign, 
and quietly resting with his family. His every act is 
characterized by a fearless sincerity, the sentiment of 
duty and principle of justice. The spirit of the man 
is even more than any series of his acts — a man the 
nation can trust. 

The disembarkation of the remaining divisions of 
the army proceeded slowly, and many of the men, 
especially of the 71st New York, stood in the surf for 
hours in the tropical sun, seizing the approaching 
boats and dragging them on shore through the 
breakers. Such exposure in the tropics is a sure 



Acton, Davies, Crane, McNichol, Howard, and Coffin carried him 
over the terrible trail, until they dropped from exhaustion. With 
the aid of Mr. Dinwiddle, he was safely carried over the hills to the 
" Olivette " and has since recovered from a precedented fatal wound. 

270 




J^-^„»..a'oU-LJi /^>-<r^^^'y6^- 



Lack of Transportation 

forerunner of fever. Perspiration poured off the 
men, as they unloaded stores on the burning sand, 
and their overheated bodies were repeatedly cooled 
as they plunged into the surf to drag the boats to 
shore. That labor was constant for fifteen hours per 
day for a week, and many a poor fellow unconsciously 
sowed the seeds of death, that soon stalked grimly 
through the ranks. 

While the heliograph on La Galetta informed 
Linares of every move of the army on the coast, 
General Shafter ordered three transports to make a 
feint landing on the west of Santiago. Despite the 
obvious uselessness of this, the engineers were on 
board one of these vessels for four days, during which 
time the crazy pile dock at Siboney could have been 
repaired and strengthened by cribs, and the risks and 
exposure of a surf landing reduced to a minimum. 
Even suitable surf-boats were lacking, and the army 
and its commissariat landed in row-boats. 

The soldiers were under the impression that 
tropical outfits would be issued for them in Cuba. 
They were still dressed in heavy serge, the old regu- 
lation equipment, and many had only thin civilian 
boots, which heat and salt water rendered useless. 
So few wagons had been shipped that there was no 
transportation for their effects, and as regiment after 
regiment was rushed to the front, the men, laboring 
in the sweltering heat, discarded articles mile by mile, 
until they had nothing but the clothes they stood 
upright in, and the route of the advance resembled 

271 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the trail of a reti-eating army. Besides kit, rifle, and 
ammunition, the troops were ordered to carry three 
days' rations in their haversacks. They were marched 
at all hours, invariably during the heat of the day, and 
suffered severely ; only the splendid physique of the 
American army made marches possible under such 
conditions. 

The expedition landed just at the close of "el 
verano de San Juan " (the summer of St. John), and 
but for the unfortunate week of delay at Tampa, the 
advance could have been made in dry weather. The 
rains restarted on the fourth day and the difficulty 
of transport increased. Yet regiment after regiment 
was raced forward, when it was impossible to get 
sufficient supplies to the front. The Cubans and 
cavalry brigade, extended beyond Sevilla, made 
efficient outposts, and common-sense generalship 
would have mobilized the army first on the hillside 
near Siboney, where the men could have been easily 
fed, and the transport trains utilized to carry out 
supplies to an advanced base, protected by the 
cavalry. When all was in readiness, even the day 
before the battle, the army could have moved forward 
the eight miles toward El Pozo, and made the attack, 
well fed, and with an abundance of supplies on hand 
to sustain it. 

It has been clearly demonstrated that for success- 
ful campaigns in the tropics troops must not be over- 
loaded on the march, that a change of underclothing 
m.ust be carried, and changed on alternate days, the 

272 



Commissariat Shortcomings 

spare suit being exposed when possible to the sun, 
which acts as a powerful deodorizer. This simple 
hygienic precaution has been greatly conducive to the 
success of Great Britain's campaigns in India and 
Africa. It was impossible in Cuba, for even officers 
lacked transport for their clothes, and the health of 
the army was further jeopardized by the defective 
commissary. 

While General Shafter was greatly to blame for not 
dispatching the fastest transports back to Tampa to 
bring forward additional mule trains and transport 
wagons, the supplies that were provided were utterly 
unfit for the climate, or for any army on active ser- 
vice. The staple diet, "hardtack," was of good 
qualit}^ though whole-meal biscuit is more sustain- 
ing. But it was packed in wooden cases — it was 
soaked first in sea water, then by rain, the boxes lay 
around in thick mud which oozed into the badly made 
joints, and much of the hard bread was soon unfit for 
consumption. European armies use tin-lined cases 
for biscuit. Trained bakers could have built field 
ovens and issued a part ration of fresh bread. In the 
Soudan and West Africa the field bakeries covered 
themselves with laurels, and their equipment requires 
little transport. 

The sides of salted " sow-belly " were of excellent 
quality, but were packed only in cheese-cloth. It 
was thus very difficult for the men to carry forward 
the slimy sides of bacon; it speedily became rotten, also, 
from sun and rain. But above all, only those who 
18 273 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

know tlie nausea of tlie stomacli after exposure in a 
malarious clime can realize the repulsiveness of fat 
bacon in any form, while the torpid liver and impaired 
digestion inflicted by the tropics makes a fatty diet 
absolutely dangerous. 
. The canned meat was execrable — simply the offal 
^ of a beef-extract factory. It was possible to boil it 
for hours, and beyond the stringy substance at the pot 
bottom and grease on top, the water remained clear 
as before. Nutriment could not be extracted, and the 
men eventually preferred hunger as they gradually 
sickened. It was packed also in round tins, the most 
inconvenient for transport, and entailing much waste 
of space. I have eaten American canned beef in 
West Africa, in preference to the beef on the hoof 
procurable there. During the Ashanti campaign we 
thrived on it. In Sierra Leone and on the Gold Coast, 
in spite of an abundance of other canned comestibles, 
it forms the staple article of diet. Yet after weeks of 
semi-starvation in Cuba, and subsistence on the miser- 
able Spanish- rancho during my deportation, I could 
not bring myself to eat the canned meat supplied to 
American soldiers by American contractors. This 
ration bore no resemblance to the me 'pplied to 
the British army. Besides excellent bouilli beef in 
portable cans, the Maconachie ration of canned beef- 
steak and vegetables is now issued with signal success 
to the English soldier on active service. In the 
United States, whose canned supplies rule the world, 
a similar ration could easily be prepared for the 

274 



Meat for the Army 

American army : the meat retains its nutriment, and 
with the vegetables is palatable and sustaining. There 
was no excuse for the lack of fresh beef in Cuba. Grass 
was abundant; cattle could have been sent down 
easily, driven to the front in one day, thus saving 
transportation, and slaughtered in the lines. The 
contention of General Shatter that meat killed in the 
tropics will not cool, I venture to contradict. If the 
beasts are slaughtered at sundown, meat in Cuba is 
perfectly fresh for consumption on the ensuing day. 
Marching across Camaguey with General Roloff, we 
drove before us cattle captured from the Spaniards, 
and slaughtered them as required. In the pestiferous 
environs of Equatorial Africa cattle are scarce, but I 
have seen them slaughtered successfully. Even an 
occasional issue of fresh meat to the troops would 
have proved a great boon, and would have been 
greatly conducive to health. Yet when I left Santi- 
ago, six weeks after the capitulation had placed an 
open port in our hands, only a meagre supply of 
frozen meat had been sent to the army of occupation 
and the men were still existing on the old ration. 

Excellent canned tomatoes were provided, but it 
has yet 3 proved that they contain the qualities of 
a staple diet. Dried beans, an excellent ration, were 
shipped in large sacks and could not be sent forward. 
The canned beans were soaked in pork fat and were 
nauseating even to the Massachusetts troops. The 
coffee was good, but unground, partially roasted, and 
packed in paper. The men had no appliances for 

275 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

grinding in the trenches, and the beans were labori- 
ously broken up between stones, and a miserable con- 
coction without milk or sugar was the result. A 
cheap, refreshing beverage of cocoa-paste, containing 
both milk and sugar, is easily obtainable, but was not 
included in the Santiago menu. Saccharine was not 
used. 

'' Boil and filter all water before drinking," read 
one wise clause of instruction and advice to soldiers 
in the tropics, issued by the War Department. There 
was no transport for camp kettles, and no filters were 
provided. The drinking water was thus one of the 
most serious menaces to health and life. Modern 
armies provide the portable Pasteur filters for each 
regiment ; and the soldier's charcoal filter and drink- 
ing tube, costing eight cents, and which can be slung 
on the frog or water bottle and used with ease, has 
yet to be included in the equipment of the American 
soldier. 

Lack of fresh meat and vegetables is a serious dan- 
ger to health, and lime juice or preserved vegetables 
are essential to prevent scorbutic disease. A German 
firm has perfected a ration of dried vegetables that 
have been used with excellent results in recent mili- 
tary and exploring expeditions, though it was not 
adopted in Cuba. A regular ration of lime juice 
should certainly have been issued, but only a few 
bottles could be purchased at the base. 

A small ration of rum is an excellent nightcap for 
men exposed to miasma, and it is issued as an evening 

276 



Commissariat Disabilities 

ration to British and German troops in tropical ser- 
vice. A huge store of excellent Bacardi at Siboney 
was poured on the ground, and barrels of red wine 
also, by order of the Commanding General. A few 
days later, when dozens of brave fellows lay panting 
for breath, their frothing mouths a harbor for flies, the 
glassy eyes silently pleading for an indescribable 
something, one's thoughts would revert to the rum 
and wine poured on the ground to prevent its abuse, 
regardless of the fact that its use would now save 
lives. A teaspoonful poured between those blue lips 
could alone have revived, and the hardtack and fat 
pork available would but hasten the approaching end. 

Consolidated extracts and soups for an emergency 
ration are portable, but were lacking. The Medical 
Comfort box, containing beef tea and other delicacies 
for the sick, was also unknown before Santiag-o : if 
plain beef tea were shipped for the hospital, it was 
not unloaded. Emergency rations have been experi- 
mented with on the Plains, but were not adopted in 
Cuba. A concentrated combination ration, weighing 
three ounces and costing six cents, can be obtained, 
and would have proved a universal boon at the front 
during the starvation days of battle. 

An impending attack of fever may be warded off 
by a dose of quinine, but there was none supplied 
save the scanty store among the medical supplies. 
Quinine, or its excellent substitute " Kreat Halviva," 
which contains all its properties and has none of its 
after effects, should be issued almost as a ration in the 

277 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

tropics. In hundreds of cases in Cuba, the fever was 
in far advanced stages before the patient could obtain 
the drug, and it was then too late. 

From the first day of landing, there was a shame- 
ful neglect of simple sanitary precautions. This was 
especially noticeable at the base of Siboney. No sinks 
were dug there for many days, and when thousands of 
refugees crowded in from the hills, conditions became 
worse. They were chiefly negroes from the ruined 
coffee estates, who had precariously existed in the 
woods and were reduced to mere animals. Yet they 
were allowed to mix indiscriminately with the 
soldiers, and no sanitary regulations were enforced. 
The whole environs of the town were defiled to an 
indescribable extent ; there was no quicklime, indis- 
pensable even for small camps ; and erelong Siboney 
became a foetid plague spot, and they wondered why 
yellow fever raged. 

" Success is a bad word ; its false resemblance to 
merit deceives mankind " was a favorite ejjigram of 
Victor Hugo. It makes an admirable text for this 
chapter, since the overwhelming success to American 
arms is invariably quoted, as a vindication of what is 
now called Algerism, and it is used as a shield of 
defence for the officialdom that failed to accomplish 
what the brave officers and men won by a miracle, 
despite disabilities and their shameful treatment. 

The army went to Santiago to accomplish a stu- 
pendous task. A landing had to be effected on a 
hostile coast, artillery and supplies moved forward 

278 



Strategical Blunders 

through ten miles of difficult country, open at all 
sides for surprise attacks from the enemy. Siege had 
to be laid to a considerable city, well garrisoned, 
naturally intrenched with steep ridges, and with a 
powerful fleet to assist in its defence. By negli- 
gence and blunder, the land operations from first to 
last were a series of mistakes, any one of which might 
have proved fatal to American arms. Victory was 
snatched at heavy cost, but a victory that can be 
attributed alone to Providence ; for had the morale 
of the enemy been less impaired by starvation and 
disease, or had the fleet remained in Santiago Har- 
bor, the amazing valor of the American soldiers must 
have gone for naught, and a reverse been entailed. 

Owing to the unaccountable delay in road-making 
during the dry days and the subsequent employment 
of improper measures in repairing washouts and ruts 
with brushwood and sand without fagots and cor- 
duroy, to withstand the periodic downpours, even the 
light mortars could not be brought to the front before 
July 9, arid not one of the siege guns was landed. 
What General Shafter hoped to accomplish with an 
army thus equipped and moved against the city, it 
is impossible to say. What would have been the 
result, even if Santiago City had been carried by 
assault, if the Spanish fleet had turned its heavy guns 
against the invading army, it is easy to foresee. 

Ostensibly the army was to go to Santiago to 
attack and destroy the batteries and Morro in rear 
and thus enable the navy to enter the harbor, remove 

279 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

the mines, and co-operate with the army on land in 
destroying the fleet and capturing the city. To 
accomplish this, an advance should have been made 
along the coast railroad under cover of the guns of 
the navy. Aguadores could then have been cap- 
tured, leaving only a short march across the foot- 
hills between El Morro and Santiago. The shore 
batteries at the harbor mouth would have been 
isolated and captured, and a combined advance 
made on Santiago by sea and land, the army covered 
by the guns of the navy. General Shafter, in the 
" Century," says : '' I regarded this as impossible." 
Yet on July 2 he wrote a note to General Wheeler, 
asking if it were not feasible to capture the forts on 
the bay to let in the navy, and on July 6 he still 
talked of it to his staff. 

The army was sent up the most difficult approach, 
against the strongest defences of the city ; by super- 
human exertion the outlying positions were captured, 
but without sufficient artillery the army could go no 
farther. They had the city surrounded, but must 
have withdrawn or faced decimation by disease, with- 
out a chance to expel the fleet or assist the navy in 
gaining entrance, had not the enemy steamed out to 
escape, and brought on, from our point of view, the 
coveted result.^ 

1 It is openly charged by many that jealousy of the navy alone 
caused General Shafter to act independently and attempt the course 
he did, thinking he could capture the city and snatch the glory 
while the warships did the blockading outside. He succeeded in 
gaining nothing and narrowly escaped defeat. But it is and ever 

280 



Injustice to the Cubans 

After the fight at Guasimas, Siboney presented a 
busy sight. From sunrise to sunset the work of dis- 
embarkation and unloading of stores was pushed for- 
ward. Mule trains were being despatched to the 
front, while thousands of starving pacificos came into 
town from the hills. 

Castillo moved his Cubans forward to El Pozo, 
where, under De Coro and Gonzales, they did efficient 
outpost work a mile beyond the American lines, thus 
relieving the soldiers from much arduous guard duty. 
Garcia brought 2000 insurgents, his negro regiments 
of Cambote and Barracoa, from Assedero, in govern- 
ment transports. Thoughtful Americans felt a thrill 
of pity when they saw the unkempt and emaciated 
insurgents, who had steadfastly endured three years' 
campaigning. Their march to the coast had been 
terribly trying, and for several days they had existed 
on grass soup. Can we wonder, then, that these 
ignorant negroes were demoralized at the sight of 
hard tack and bacon " ad lib." ? They broke open 
the boxes and devoured the first square meal of three 

will be impolitic to deal with this question. The Commander-in- 
Chief was but carrying out the orders of the War Department, and lie 
should not now be made a scapegoat for this. The very knowledge 
of the unpreparedness, the weighty sens-e of responsibility, so 
preyed on the general's mind that his physical condition was piti- 
able. His gouty foot pained him considerably, and those who for 
political reasons intrusted the care of an army and national honor 
to an officer of such disability are morally responsible. Awaiting 
his orders, no practical reconnoissance of the country was made. 
He had no personal knowledge of the local topography, or the dis- 
position of the enemy. " How can a man decide what he should do 
if he is ignorant of what his enemy is about ? " says Jominie. 

281 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

years, with so much gusto that certain gentlemen 
looked on with disgust and called them pigs, and 
energetic pressmen were speedily making copy on 
the " lazy Cubans' hate of work and love of eating." 
The Cuban soldiers marched to the north of Santiago, 
and had few transactions with the army for food or 
orders. 

Along the now disused trail between Daiquiri and 
Siboney, overcoats and blankets were rotting by the 
wayside, and some of the " boys " told the ragged 
pacificos of this discarded treasure which was useless 
to the army. The poor wretches soon appropriated 
everything, but unfortunately they applied this per- 
mission universally, and on subsequent marches, 
when the men laid their packs by the roadside to 
collect later, they frequently found them rifled. 
Ragged and ignorant as were Garcia's soldiers, they 
did not steal and loot as charged, for theft is relig- 
iously punished with death in the rebel camps. 
The negro pacificos, many of whom were armed 
with rifles shipped down at the time but were abso- 
lutely without discipline, had no such scruples, and 
pilfered at every opportunity. It is impossible to fix 
any standard of judgment for people in their condi- 
tion. But they were not insurgents, they were not 
Cubans. One-third only of the population of Cuba 
before the war was colored. Weyler killed off many 
of the whites in the West, but the negroes we saw 
around Santiago were no more typical of the Cuban 
race than are the ignorant colored squatters and 

282 



To the Outposts 

cotton-workers of the Georgia backwoods representa- 
tive Americans. Unfortunately, by the action of these 
negroes, the American troops soon lost the reverence 
they felt for the patriots' struggle for liberty, since 
they had neither time nor opportunity to form a 
broad and charitable judgment. Some of the very 
writers, who in Havana had misled the public with 
faked stories of victorious insurgent armies sweeping 
the Island, now found material at the expense of the 
Cubans in the expose of the phantasms created by 
their own imagination. The sage Housas say, "If 
you find a cup and show it as gold, don't smash it as 
worthless, when it is proved brass, for the fault is 
yours, not the cup's." 

Pressing forward to the outposts on June 26, with 
Bengough the artist and two servants who had pre- 
viously served on the Nictheroy during the Brazilian 
trouble, we camped just above El Pozo, in a snugly 
thatched hut considerately erected by the Cubans. 
The rains had restarted, and miasma hung over the 
valley like a heavy pall, but toward evening the misty 
curtain was suddenly drawn aside, the skies turned 
blue as if by magic, and a most glorious panorama lay 
revealed to our wondering gaze. Santiago lay on a 
gentle ridge, alarmingly close, the minarets of the 
ancient cathedral and the blue walls of the San 
Cristobel convent, peeping over the graceful palms 
covering the valley. The sun was dropping behind 
the heights of El Cobre, and shed a golden radiance 
over the peaceful scene. The military hospital, 

283 



n 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

carcel, and barracks, standing at the edge of the city, 
were plentifully bedecked with Red Cross flags, while 
before them, separated delusively by an invisible 
valley, were the forts and blockhouses of San Juan. 

The light uniforms of the soldiers lounging around 
the blockhouses showed up plainly ; they Avere ap- 
parently oblivious of the approaching army. A few 
distant booms to seaward — the navy exchanging 
courtesies with Morro — were the only evidence of 
war. The tinkling of the hammered pots in the bel- 
fry, calling to vespers, was wafted across the valley, 
and only the battened vultures that swarmed the 
trees could have divined the comino- scenes of carnao^e. 
Sunset was first heralded by the Cuban bugler, but 
his puny notes were soon drowned by the harmonious 
burst of trumpets, as the beautiful " retreat " of the 
American army was sounded by the various regiments 
encamped at Sevilla, about a mile behind. Then 
their bands burst into the " Star-Spangled Banner ; " 
and stretched across the heavens — silver stars shining 
from a sky of blue, the crimson glare of the setting 
sun intersected by white fleeced bars of cloud — the 
very spirit of Old Glor}^ was typified. It seemed that 
a spiritual hand had thus emblazoned the heavens in 
omen of the flag so soon to float over that benighted 
land. 

The army was camped near Sevilla. Despite the 
rain and the sorry rations, the spirits of the soldiers 
were sustained by the thought of battle. The light 
batteries were up, but we still looked across at the 

284 



Plan of Attack Formulated 

enemy working on the defences before Santiago, 
while our guns were parked, and the men worked on 
the roads. General Shafter arrived at the front on 
July 29, cursorily viewing Santiago from El Pozo. 
On the following afternoon General Castillo and 
several American officers made a reconnoissance from 
the war balloon, and in a pouring rain at 3 P. M. a 
general advance was ordered. 

Santiago lay to our direct front. General Lawton 
was to advance to the extreme right, with the Second 
Division, comprising the brigades of General Chaffee, 
the 7th, 12th, and 17th Infantry, General Ludlow, 
8th and 22d Infantry and 2d Massachusetts, and 
Colonel Miles, 1st, 4th, and 25th Infantry, and two 
field batteries. After capturing El Caney, a forti- 
fied town menacing the right flank, Lawton was to 
swing round and invest the north side of Santiago. 
The First Division, General Kent, comprising the 
brigades of General Hawkins, 6th and 16th Infantry 
and 71st New York, Colonel Pearson, 2d, 10th, and 
21st Infantry, and Colonel Wikoff, 9th, 13th, and 24th 
Infantry, and the Cavalry Division, General Wheeler, 
comprising the brigades of General Sumner, 3d, 6th, 
and 9th Cavalry, and General Young, 1st and 10th 
Cavalry, and the Rough Riders, with tliree field bat- 
teries, were to capture the advanced positions of 
Santiago at San Juan, and invest the city on the east 
General Duffield, with the 9th Massachusetts and 33d 
and 34th Michigan and a force of Cubans, was to ad- 
vance along the coast and join the navy in a combined 

285 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

attack upon Aguadores, menacing the left flank. If 
possible, he was then to move on Santiago from the 
south. A semicircular cordon would thus entirely 
compass the city. Garcia and his two thousand 
Cubans were expected to cover the entire western 
edge of the bay and the extreme north, to prevent 
reinforcements or supplies entering through either the 
Condella, Oris to, San Luis, or other passes leading to 
the city. 

It is inexplicable why a general advance should 
have been ordered on the 30th. Lawton had seven 
miles to march to the right, but the centre divisions 
had less than two. The sudden movement of the 
army corps into the narrow trail retarded Lawton 
for several hours. The remaining divisions might 
have remained in camp until daybreak, and marched 
the short distance to the Pozo, dry, fed, and fresh 
for the assault. So cojigested was the trail that 
darkness supervened before many regiments had ad- 
vanced at all, and at midnight the drenched troops 
lay down in the muddy road and rested on their 
arms until daybreak. 



28Q 



CHAPTER XIII 

The Attack begins. — The Artillery Duel. — A Reck- 
less Order. — The Storming of San Juan. — Agua- 
DORES, — Caney Fallen. 

Reveille on July 1 roused a wet, bedraggled 
army from unrefreshing sleep. The troops lit fires 
with difficulty, and the centre divisions roundly 
"groused " at the spoilt night that they might have 
spent comfortably in camp. But the boom of Ca- 
pron's first gun at Caney sent a thrill through the 
ranks; discomforts were forgotten, and the tension 
of anxious anticipation, the exultant, undefinable 
something of approaching battle, dominated each one 
of us. With Creelman and Armstrong, I moved 
down toward Caney, and turned to view the shelling 
of the citadel from the Ducrot. This citadel re- 
sembled a French chateau rather than the Moresque 
forts of Spain; but the guns made little impression 
upon it, and I rode back to El Pozo, where Battery 
A, Captain Grimes, was intrenched on a ridge op- 
posing San Juan. 

Directly behind the guns the cavalry were at ease, 
preparing a sorry breakfast. I remembered, at certain 
examination manoeuvres at Aldershot, that a field- 
^ 287 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

officer was disqualified for halting his men some dis- 
tance in rear but directly behind a battery during an 
artillery duel. Seeing the guns about to open, I had 
the temerity therefore to warn one officer of the dan- 
ger, should the enemy's artillery reply. " We have 
our orders and cannot move," was the ansAver. 

By the guns Captain Grimes and Lieutenants Conk- 
lin and Farr were ranging, the cannoneers stood by 
their pieces, the high numbers at the caissons. At 
one minute to eight, No. 1 and 2 guns were loaded 
with common shell. 

"Range 2500 yards!" 

The breech block was closed with a snap, the trail 
of No. 1 gun was swung into position, the layer 
looked over his sights, depressing the piece a trifle. 
.The sight of No. 2 gun was adjusted in readiness. 

"No. 1! Fire!" 

The report rang out — a shell went screaming over 
the peaceful valley and burst at impact just beyond 
the ridge, amid the cheers of the soldiers. 

"Too much elevation! No.' 2 at 2450. Ready! 
Fire!" 

" Still a little high ! " No. 3 gun sent a shell crash- 
ing below the blockhouse. No. 4 missed fire through 
defective pricking ; but in the second round each gun 
sent a shell hurling against the blockhouse, and the 
enemy could be seen scampering to cover. The range 
fixed, shrapnel was resorted to. To the thirteenth 
round there had been no repl}^, though we looked 
instinctively across the valley after each discharge. 

288 



The Artillery Duel 

Suddenly a tiny ring of bluish smoke circled 
through the air, and with a vicious scream a shrap- 
nel hurtled over the battery and burst just above the 
heads of the crowd behind the hill. Men fell on all 
sides, and before the surprised soldiers had recovered 
from their astonishment, another shell exploded. 
With marvellous direction, shrapnel burst regularly 
just over the battery, among the troops so wickedly 
exposed there. A group of Cubans were literally 
blown to pieces, horses were killed, and then a shell 
burst before No. 3 gun, killing two gunners. Helm 
and Underwood, instantly, fatally wounding Roberts, 
and injuring every man in the vicinity. As I 
turned, blinded with dust, with Scovel and BengQugh, 
to seek a less exposed place, the grimy figure of Cor- 
poral Keene loomed through the smoke, and with 
blood pouring from two wounds he returned to his 
gun, which Michaelis, the son of a brave officer, and 
the only one uninjured in the detachment, was coolly 
working as if on parade, while Brown, a Harvard 
man, carried ammunition from the caissons. 

There was a subtle fascination in watching . the 
three devoted officers, and the men of Battery A, 
standing exposed to the sure and deadly fire, and 
answering shot by shot. Colonel Ordonez, the Span- 
ish inventor and artillerist, succeeded Colonel Melgar, 
commanding the artillery, and had personally ranged 
the position with fearful accuracy. The enemy used 
smokeless powder, and their battery could not be 
located, while the black powder of our guns made a 
19 289 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

perfect target. After nine minutes of this effective 
shelling, the Spaniards fortunately held fire, and 
thus the crowded troops behind the ridge were able 
to move from their perilous position. Grimes fired 
thirteen more rounds, and failing to evoke reply, he 
also ceased fire, and his men fell, exhausted by their 
efforts in the hot sun. Below the hill Surgeon 
Qainton worked heroically under fire with Dr. Church 
of the Rough Riders. 

When the artillery duel had ceased, though there 
was no indication that the enemy's guns had been 
silenced, the regiments started to pour down the trail 
leading through the thickly wooded valley interven- 
ing between El Pozo and the enemy's position on 
San Juan. Lieutenant-Colonel McClernand, A. A. G. 
to the Fifth Corps, had ridden up with orders from 
General Shafter for Generals Kent and Sumner to 
move their divisions forward through the valley to 
the edge of the woods and there await orders. The 
trail led down to the San Juan River, walled in on 
either side by impenetrable bush. Just beyond the 
last, ford the woods ended abruptly and a gentle 
grassy slope led to the foot of the San Juan ridge, 
which is like a huge rampart thrown up to defend 
Santiago. Extending along its whole length were 
trenches, intersected with blockhouses, while below 
strong barbed-wire barricades were stretched along 
the base of the hill. San Juan was the strategical 
key to Santiago. Beyond was an intervening valley, 
with a gradual ascent leading up to the plateau on 

290 



Tactics at San Juan 

which the city stands. It commanded the succeed- 
ing rows of trenches on the hillside and the strongly 
fortified and barricaded outskirts of the city, that 
rose like a wall along the next crest. 

One moment's consideration of the topography of 
this position will show that an attacking force march- 
ing down the wretched trail to San Juan would be 
forced to form Hue of battle at the edge of the Avoods, 
under a sweeping fire from trenches and forts, and 
after thus deploying, the depleted force must advance 
across the open, against the fences, and storm the 
hill. Such a course could but court extermination, i 

There are defined, strategic rules for capturing' 
such a position. Preparatory action holds infantry 
to cover with artillerj^ at the front, until the shelling 
has produced sufficient effect for a general advance. 
The configuration of the ground seldom admits guns 
remaining far in rear of the advance, but there is no 
justifiable hope in advancing strong masses of troops 
against an intrenched position without preparatory 
artillery action, and no assault should be ordered 
until the artillery duel has silenced the enemy's guns 
and shaken the defending forces. A few houif 
shelling would have demolished the blockhouses and 
cleared the trenches along the ridges. Then, with 
rough trails cut branching from the road through the 
trees to the edge of the wood, several columns could 
have emerged simultaneously in the valley, formed 
line, and charged the hill with small loss, ready to 
face the enemy's main position. During the war of 

291 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

'70 Moltke advised his generals that frontal attacks 
on a position usually failed, unless means had been 
taken to engage the enemy's flank simultaneously. 

During the struggle to expel the usurper Joseph 
Bonaparte and his brother's army from Italy, one of 
Massena's columns advanced down a narrow wooded 
road. At the head of the track a handful of loyal 
Calabrians sheltered behind rocks on a low emi- 
nence, swept the opening with their rifles. In vain 
the column strove to press forward and charge the 
position — the French soldiers emerged from cover, 
only to be shot down by the unerring mountaineers, 
and a sorry remnant alone escaped by retreat. The 
position resembled San Juan, only the head of the 
Santiago road was held by regular soldiers, in- 
trenched, armed with repeating rifles, and with 
artillery that could shell the road long before the 
attacking force reached the open valley. One regi- 
ment of infantry and a single battery from perhaps 
any modern army but Spain's, could have held San 
Juan against the entire force of Shafter advancing 
without artillery support. 

General Shafter intended that the columns should 
advance quietly through the woods, and stand ready 
to make the charge when the artillery had prepared 
the way and Lawton's Division had swung to flank 
the position on the right. Possibly he thought the 
enemy would sleep in the interim. 

Into the unknown jungle the cavalry and infantry 
advanced. The road was muddy, and in places but 

292 



The Battle Precipitated 

three could march abreast, so that when the advance 
guard reached the first ford, the road was choked 
with closely wedged men for considerably over a 
mile. The Spanish pickets concealed in palm-trees, 
in the valley, soon saw blue uniforms advancing, and I 
gave the alarm. Not certain of the strength of the - 
force, the Spaniards fired only a few desultory vol- 
leys, but as the vanguard came unseen down the 
road, the captive war balloon was sent bobbing along 
in the very advance, just over the tree-tops. It de- 
veloped the fight, the moment it drew within range. 

Every rifle from fort and intrenchment blazed at 
once at the silken globe ; the artillery reopened, and 
bullets and shells poured through the tree-tops, deal- 
ing death and destruction among the men in the 
crowded trail. By this time the cavalry were start- 
ing to deploy along the creek ; but when the wretched 
balloon had finally received its quietus, and sunk 
amid the curses of the men stricken through its 
agency by an unseen fire, the enemy had exactly 
ranged the line of the road, and were apprised that a 
general advance was taking place. A withering fire 
was directed against the angle where the balloon had 
disappeared and along the edge of the wood. 

In a moment the insanity of the tactics dawned 
upon the American army. "Not though the soldiers 
knew some one had blundered . . . Theirs not to 
reason why. Theirs but to do and die." The whole 
command would have been withdrawn, and the artil- 
lery allowed to prepare the way, had not the trail 

293 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

been so packed that a retrograde movement would 
have cost hundreds of lives, besides demoralizing the 
survivors. A modern army, composed of the finest 
material in the world, had been moved recklessly into 
a death-trap, to be decimated by what proved to be a 
handful of half-starved Spaniards. 

Generals Kent, Hawkins, and Sumner held a hur- 
ried consultation. Lieutenant Ord climbed a tree 
and viewed the enemy's position far more effectually 
than a hundred balloons. General Hawkins crossed 
the ford, and glanced upward at the ridges. In a 
few moments the leaders of division, seeing retreat 
impracticable, decided to rush the position. 

Lieutenant Miley, representing headquarters where 
the commander-in-chief should have been, concurred 
in their view. Grimes Battery had reopened, and as 
there was imminent risk from our own shells falling 
short, he sent orders to the artillery to cease firing 
while the troops deployed. A heroic figure of six 
feet three, Miley stood at the ford, encouraging the 
men, who moved over the stream into a hell of fire. 
Cavalry and infantry were mixed, but the former 
deployed to the right, the latter on the left. The 
men were ordered to reserve their fire and to lie flat 
on their faces as they formed line. The San Juan 
River ran streaked with blood, for the dead and 
wounded fell from its slippery bank into the water 
repeatedly. 

Hawkins's Brigade, the 6th and 16th Infantry, ex- 
tended first ; the 71st New York, who had suffered 

294 



The Forces Deploy 

severely, being ordered to support. Through misun- 
derstanding these volunteers^ were halted and lay 
down in the road beneath a galling fire, and Wikoff's 
Brigade, 9th, 13th, and 24th Infantry, passed over 
them. Colonel Wikoff was killed as he reached the 
head of the road. With magnificent coolness Colo- 
nel Worth of the 13th stepped forward to lead the 
brigade. He was shot down instantly. Colonel Lis- 
cum of the 21th sprang into his place and fell deliv- 
ering his first order. The leading company, seeing 
the three officers shot in succession, faltered; but 
Colonel Ewers of the 9th heroically took the lead, 
and the brigade, steadied, deployed on the extreme 
left. 

General Wheeler, through sickness, had that morn- 
ing been relieved of command of the cavalry by Gen- 
eral Shafter. General Sumner took his place at the 
head of the division. Colonel Wood had assumed 
charge of Sumner's Brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel 



1 The leading companies of the 71st were thrown into confusion 
by stampeded mules, and halted under the stream of bullets aimed 
at the collapsing balloon by their side. The men became panic- 
stricken, being unable to realize their distance from the unseen foe, 
and while temporarily disorganized, the regulars swept through 
their ranks and to the front. Numbers of the volunteers followed 
the regulars, and participated in the charge; Companies F, Cap- 
tain Rafferty, I, Captain Meeks, M, Captain Goldsbury, with Lieu- 
tenants Williams and Olin, going forward intact. Major Keck 
brought up his battalion to support. This regiment performed very 
arduous duty throughout the campaign, and as a close observer at 
San Juan, I can positively state that a combination of circum- 
stances rather than inefficiency or cowardice caused the failure of 
New York's popular regiment at the critical moment. 

295 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Roosevelt leading the Rough Riders, Colonel Diel 
the 1st Cavalry, and Colonel Baldwin the 10th. 
General Young had sickened after heroic service at 
Guasimas, and on the previous day, he was invalided 
home. Colonel Carroll assumed charge of his bri- 
gade, with the 3d Cavalry, Major Wessells, 6th, 
Captain Kerr, and 9th, Colonel Hamilton. They 
deployed steadily on the right under a terrific fire. 

When General Wheeler heard the firing, he rose 
from his cot and journeyed to the front in an ambu- 
lance. Finding wounded by the roadside, he insisted 
on mounting his horse, relinquishing the hospital 
wagon for their use. Thin and wan, and shaking 
with fever, the ex-Confederate rode slowly down the 
lines, followed by his son and aide. Lieutenant 
Wheeler, and the men could scarce forbear a cheer. 
As senior officer he assumed command, and virtually 
directed the action for the remainder of the day. 

The men were suffering severely wdiile deploy- 
ing, and as I crawled partially along the line, the 
dead and wounded were thickly strewn down the 
fringe of the wood, and it seemed that disaster had 
come. Lieutenant Mitchie, aide to General Haw- 
kins, lay dying beside the creek. Benchley was 
killed delivering an order. Captain O'Neill fell 
dead just before the line broke cover. Lieutenants 
Devereux and Haskell were wounded and apparently 
dying. Captain Henry was shot from the saddle as 
he crossed the creek. Lieutenant Roberts lay beyond 
mortally wounded, with a dozen troopers around him 

296 



Line of Attack Formed 

dying or dead. Captains Swift and Steel, also of the 
cavalry, had both fallen, and dead or wounded offi- 
cers and men lay in all directions. 

I waited for a few minutes with the 9th Cavalry. 
Many of the colored troopers were praying aloud 
with negro familiarity, but their supplications were 
constantly broken by the flight of bullets, when a 
volley was fired in our direction, and they continu- 
ally responded in kind. It was a relief to join in 
and pump a Winchester at the hidden enemy; but 
the order was soon passed down: "Cease firing! 
Load magazines!" 

Alsop Burrows and Basil Rickets, society men, 
serving in the Rough Riders, had charge of the dyna- 
mite gun, and had moved it forward. It became 
jammed after the first discharge, and the valuable 
adjunct had to be relinquished. The gunners, how- 
ever, sprang to a machine gun, and worked that 
manfully. Lieutenant Parker rushed his Catlings 
up and swept the crest, private Sine working the 
crank of one until the lead melted. He was killed 
ere his gun cooled. 

Pearson's Brigade, the 2d, 10th, and 21st Infan- 
try, had now crossed the ford. Colonel McKibben 
led the 21st to support Hawkins. The others swept 
away up the valley to the left. Our loss was consid- 
erably over a thousand, before the lines for attack 
were formed through the chaparral on the fringe of 
the woods. At the supreme moment thirteen-inch 
shell, fired right over the city by the Spanish fleet, 

297 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

thundered into the lines like rushing trains. Then 
the stirring " Charge ! " from Hawkins's bugler rang 
through the trees, and the cavalry trumpets repeated 
it. The men had long scrambled through torrent 
and thicket under a galling fire; the sight of com- 
rades falling acted as an incentive, and, like a series 
of waves, the companies surged forward, the pla- 
toons irreofular, commands mixed. As the line broke 
cover, the Spaniards blazed down with Mauser and 
machine gun, and their fire resolved the assault into 
a series of short rushes. There was a murmur of 
hoarse commands, bugle-calls rang out, while the roar 
of artillery, incessant crash of rifles and bursting 
shells, drowned the imprecations of the soldiers and 
the agonized cries of the wounded. On the right of 
the line Colonel Roosevelt spurred his horse forward, 
and with a cheer the Rough Riders started toward an 
eminence to the right front, Marianje, now Kettle 
Hill. The whole cavalry division moved forward 
rapidly. Colonel Hamilton was shot dead ; his senior, 
Captain Taylor, and Adjutant Avere severely wounded 
as they advanced. Colonel Carroll fell as the Span- 
ish outposts ran back. Major Wessels was wounded 
a few moments later. Captain Bigelow received three 
bullets before he relinquished his company. Captain 
Mills was shot through the head. The grassy ascent 
was soon covered with dead and dying, but the 
troopers swept upward, and captured the fort and 
trenches, the enemy retreating with loss to the woods 
beyond. Turning slightly to the left, the cavalry 

298 



The Defenders of San Juan 

then charged the main line of intrenchments, soon 
extending until they touched the centre division, 
assaulting San Juan. 

In the centre General Hawkins, his white hair 
flowing loosely in the breeze, led forward his infantry 
brigade. Barbed wire fences barred the way, but 
Lieutenant Wise, of Military Kite fame, and other 
officers smashed the posts with logs. A fraise of 
barbed wire was negotiated with loss, and as the 
cavalry joined hands with the infantry right, it was 
an individual race from the extended lines to the top 
of the hill. "Les Epaulettes en avant! " was the cry 
that led the raw armies Gambetta's enthusiasm had 
raised. At San Juan every officer was an individual 
leader, and the terrible percentage of officers who fell 
is an eloquent tribute to their worth. 

The San Juan Heights were held by Colonel Ba- 
quero of the Simanca Regiment, and but three com- 
panies of the Puerto Rico Battalion. Carefully 
intrenched, and hardly touched by our artillery fire, 
this small force, aided by machine guns and two nine- 
pounders, had torn up their assailants in the valley 
below with no appreciable loss. But they were dis- 
concerted by the steady American advance, and re- 
doubled their volleys as the thin blue line crossed 
the valley and commenced to climb the steep ascent. 
They leaned over their defences to fire at the stormers 
almost directly below them, and being suddenly ex- 
posed, received volley after volley from our reserves, 
and were swept by the Catlings. The brave Baquero 

299 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

was killed, vainly attempting to rally his men; and 
as the leading files of the almost exhausted Ameri- 
cans clambered over the ridge, and prepared for the 
crash of hand-to-hand conflict, a straggly line of pale 
blue rose against tlie sky, as the Spaniards sprang 
up from their trenches, evacuated their fort, and 
fled precipitately into the intervening valley before 
Santiago. 

Ere twenty of " ours " had clambered over the 
ridge, "Old Glory" fluttered proudly on the hill, 
the cavalry guidons were planted on the ridges to the 
right, and many a stricken and dying soldier raised 
his bleeding body and gave one cheer of exultation 
and defiance. 

For perhaps two minutes there was a lull in the 
firing ; then our shouts of triumph were drowned by 
a crash as of thunder, as every fort and house on the 
outskirts of Santiago, and the main lines of defence 
extended in three rows before the city, opened up on 
the outworks it had cost us so much to storm. 

Wounded and dead Spaniards were strewn along 
the ridge. The hard clay of the hill had made revet- 
ments unnecessary, but the perpendicular trenches, 
backed by a fausse-braye before the fort, had im- 
peded their retreat and caused the only serious loss 
from our fire. On the berm of the trench Captain 
Venancia Raga lay shot through the hips. As our 
first line passed over the ridge, Lieutenant Ord, point- 
ing at the Spaniard with his revolver, shouted, " Carry 
that officer to the rear." Mistaking the action, Raga 

300 



The Position Captured 

threw up his pistol and shot Ord through the head. 
Thus died the most conspicuously brave officer of 
the war. The soldiers, enraged at the unintentional 
treachery, poured a volley into the Spaniard as they 
passed on. The Spanish flag was torn down from 
the fort by Agnew of the 13th, and the guidons of 
the 6th and 64th Infanteria were captured by the 6th 
Cavalry. The 16th, 6th, 9th, 13th, and 24th In- 
fantry formed along the captured ridge, while Pear- 
son's Brigade, 10th, 21st, and 2d Infantry, which had 
extended on the extreme left, swept over a succeeding 
ridge, driving in a second outpost of the enemy. 

Despite the terrible fire raging from Santiago, the 
eager soldiers passed beyond San Juan, clinging to 
available coyer, and shooting with little fire disci- 
pline, at the trenches dug in the hillside leading up 
to the city. In reserve behind the trees Colonel 
Sierra had two squadrons of the King's Light Cav- 
alry. Noticing the weakness of the American line, 
now greatly depleted by wounded and their helpers, 
and the scattered formation of the various companies 
that had advanced wildly beyond the ridge, General 
Linares ordered the cavalry to charge down the road 
and flank the lines in the valley. Such an onslaught 
would have proved disastrous to our advance. But 
their uniforms showed through the trees as they 
mounted, a volley was fired into them, and despite 
the efforts of Major Irles and others, they wheeled 
and galloped into the city, losing very heavily from 
the spent bullets that made both rears more dangerous 

301 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

than the respective firing lines. So thick was the 
cover that the American officers knew nothing of the 
foiled charge, though I followed the line of retreat 
later by the carcasses of accoutred horses and torn 
clothing and equipment. 

At this juncture General Linares fell wounded, 
and Toral assumed command of the Spanish army. 
The San Juan fort was now the objective of the 
enemy's fire, and their well-placed shells drove out 
the occupants. The volleys along the whole front 
grew more steady and regular, and General Hawkins, 
realizing the uselessness of irregularly facing the 
entire Spanish army, ordered the "rally" sounded. 
The eager soldiers then fell back to the ridge they 
had captured, and intrenched themselves along the 
crest. The cavalry had also advanced impetuously 
beyond the hill, and retired reluctantly to its shelter. 
As they hurriedly intrenched, the enemy poured 
from the woods, and finding cover behind rocks and 
along hedges, fired steady volleys that would have 
proved terribly effectual when the troopers were 
beyond the hill, and probably have driven the 
American lines back demoralized. 

With Nicholls and Mac Dowel], I had lain be- 
hind the disused sugar-kettles at Marianje, against 
which bullets rang incessantly. The engine-house 
there was turned into a temporary hospital, and a 
terrible fire was soon raging against it. Crawling 
along the advanced ridge, I could see the Spaniards 
creeping forward, and the recapture of the position 

302 



The Defence of Santiago 

from our thin lines seemed imminent. General 
Sumner and Colonel Wood both sent to General 
Kent for infantry reinforcements, and the gallant 
13th was moved to the right to support the cavalry. 
At this time an advance was also made against San 
Juan, the enemy having the advantage of a gentle 
slope and excellent cover. But as we watched the 
straw hats bobbing, and an occasional swarthy face, 
the whole cavalry division reverted from individual 
firing to rapid volleys, a machine gun turned loose, 
the infantry on our left were responding strongly, 
and the enemy withdrew to their first line of in- 
trenchments with loss. 

Opposing us on the hillside forming Santiago's 
outskirts, the chain of forts, blockhouses, and forti- 
fied houses, and succeeding rows of trenches were 
held by the 1st Battalion Asia Regiment, 1st Puerto 
Rico Provisionals, 1st San Fernando, historic with 
Serrano's charge at San Pedro; 1st Constitucion and 
2d Talavera Regiments, two companies of Heavy 
Artillery, one battery of light artillerv, and two com- 
panies of engineers. Two companies Guardia civil, 
a battalion of. Irregulars (Guerillas), nineteen hun- 
dred volunteers, 1 and three hundred enrolled fire- 
men formed the reserves, and with the Caballeria 
del Key brought the force up to eight thousand men. 
The centre was augmented by twelve hundred 
marines from the fleet and four machine guns. 

1 After the capture of San Juan the volunteers, with the excep- 
tion of Pratt's famed and bloody veterans of '69, left the trenches 

303 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

The intrenchments extended from Dos Caminos on 
the north to Punta Blanca on the coast. These lines 
were strengthened by thirteen forts surrounding the 
city: Forts Cruces, Gasometro, and Nuevo on the 
south, Beneficencia, Canadas, San Ursula, Guayabito, 
Canosa, and Santa Inez on the east front, and Cuabi- 
tas, San Antonio, Yarazo, and Barges at the north 
and head of the Bay. Fort San Antonio boasted 
three bronze guns, and Santa Inez one. Two of 
the three guns at San Ursula were doing effective 
shelling under Colonel Ordonez, wounded during 
the afternoon. Four bronze Sevillian guns at El 
Sueno were poorly worked through lack of gunners, 
and the three guns at Fort Nuevo, which almost 
enfiladed Pearson's brigade on the left, fired few 
shots effectively. During the afternoon one Hontoria 
also was mounted under fire before the city. Toral 
had little ammunition for his guns, and at Canadas 
rusty chain shot, piled as relics on the Plaza, were 
utilized. 

As 1 crawled along the ridges, I was surprised to 
find so few of the enemy's dead at San Juan, which 
had cost so terribly to capture. I saw but sixteen 
— the highest estimate was thirty. Some wounded 
begged pitifully to be spared when one approached, 

and refused to fight. As shown in Chapter III., these braggart 
loyalists have caused Cuba's misrule. Toral dared not order them 
back to the trenches, and he afterwards told me bitterly : " We 
came here as soldiers to fight for Spain, whom these men had em- 
broiled with the Cubans. They cried for war with the Americans 
and then left us to bear the brunt." 

304 



Defeat Closely Averted 

but the dead were comparatively few. Having 
gauged direction from the balloon, the enemy had 
poured down their merciless fire without exposure 
from volleys returned from two hundred feet below. 
Had the impetuous Latins waited in their position, 
they could have swept off the exhausted Americans 
as they gained the summit, and the victory evolved 
from the egregious blunder of July 1 would have 
had a different sequel. 

The capture of San Juan cannot form a demon- 
strative precedent in modern tactics. Ordered into 
an untenable position, the striking individuality of 
the American soldier, criticised by some as undisci- 
pline, rose superior to the occasion. A technical 
defeat was turned to victory when the tactics of 
Shafter had failed. It was eminently a soldiers' 
battle. Invidious praise has been heaped on certain 
regiments ; equal credit is deserved by every officer 
and man participating in the assault. " It is pardon- 
able to be defeated, but never to be taken by sur- 
prise." The army at San Juan knew the enemy was 
before them; but owing to the lack of orders, no 
officer knew what to anticipate. The first intimation 
of battle was a shower of bullets crashing through 
the tree-tops from an unseen foe. The commanding 
general, when he ordered the advance through the 
valley to Bloody Angle, overlooked Marmont's text 
of elementary tactics, — " Marches in the vicinity of 
the enemy cannot be made with too much precaution 
and prudence." 

20 305 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

The massed formations, dear to the heart of the 
Great Frederick, are no longer possible in these days, 
when the inventor is the master of the hand that 
slays; and mere valor can now seldom prove the 
deciding factor in warfare. In Cuba the Mauser 
proved superior to the Krag Jorgensen for rapidity of 
fire and penetration. It was pitiful to see the Ameri- 
can troops extracting, with difficulty, single cartridges 
from their sodden belts, while the Spaniards pressed 
home the pentacapsular clip in their Mausers and had 
five shots ready. A clip adjustment and a cartouche 
box should certainly be adopted by the United 
States. The enemy also had smokeless powder, and 
neither battery nor trench could be located; while 
the United States Artillery and the Springfields of the 
National Guard made a continual smoke target, and 
obscured the view. In the confusion of the battle 
fire discipline was not maintained, and I heard no 
ranges given during the day. 

The fighting, by four o'clock, had resolved itself 
into an offensive defence by both armies, neither of 
which were in a position to advance. In taking the 
ridges our losses had been: First Cavalry Brigade, 
strength 1054, lost 2 officers and 9 men killed, 12 
officers and 114 men wounded; Second Brigade, 
strength 1468, 4 officers and 31 men killed, 18 
officers, 185 men, wounded. The Infantry loss in 
Kent's Division was First Brigade, strength 2052, 5 
officers, 39 men killed, 14 officers, 263 men wounded, 
and 49 missing. Second Brigade, strength 1557, 1 

306 



Feint at Aguadores 

officer, 17 men killed, 10 officers, 118 men womided, 
5 missing ; Third Brigade, strength 1416, 6 officers, 
31 men killed, 11 officers, 187 men wounded, 9 miss- 
ing: an aggregate loss of 1140 officers and men in 
taking a position that artillery alone could have made 
untenable. 

The firing on the extreme flanks at Caney and 
Aguadores continued, though news soon reached the 
centre that Duffield had retired to Siboney, the fleet 
continuing the attack from the sea. The 9th Massa- 
chusetts and 38d and 34th Michigan, and a force of 
Cubans, had moved along the coast, their advance 
protected by the fleet. At the ford of the Aguadores 
River they found the enemy in ambush, and drove 
the Spaniards back to the town, despite the heavy 
fire of a battery, which caused great loss to the 33d 
and the Cubans. The " Newark, " however, silenced 
the battery, and Admiral Sampson, from the "New 
York," after signalling to Duffield on shore, led the 
attack with the Flagship, assisted by the " Suwanee " 
and "Gloucester." The old fort was speedily demol- 
ished, and the enemy were driven from their trenches. 
Unfortunately, the Aguadores River was so SAVoUen 
by the rains that it was impossible to ford it; pon- 
toons or engineers were non est, and the troops 
returned by rail to Siboney. As a diversion the 
demonstration was a success; but the attack was a 
failure as a flank movement against Santiago. 

Seeing the San Juan ridges were now completely 
invested, I caught a stampeded troop horse in the 

307 



.Under Three Flags in Cuba 

valley below, and strove to ride through the bush to 
the extreme right. The rude path across country, 
however, was infested with sharpshooters, a number 
of fugitive soldiers from Caney were lurking in the 
trees', and the trail was so difficult that I soon aban- 
doned the attempt. From a wooded hill beyond 
Marianje I could see that Lawton's Division was still 
hotly engaged, and he was apparently suffering from 
the want of artillery that cost so many lives. 

General Vara del Rey at Caney had barely 600 of 
the Constitutional Regiment, and no artillery. They 
were strongly intrenched round the town itself, how- 
ever, and in the heavy stone citadel on an eminence 
at the southern outskirts. Five smaller fores — Rio, 
Cemeterio, Yzquierdo, Matadero, and Asia — held 
the approaches on the north and west. 

At first the guns had accomplished little; but as 
the infantry closed in on the citadel, several well- 
planted shell burst within. Our infantry had little 
cover, and the enemy's machine guns, finally located 
in the church tower, played sad havoc. The Ameri- 
can lines advanced slowly, the attacking force dash- 
ing across open spaces and seizing every bit of 
available cover. As at San Juan, they had moved 
into range before the artillery had paved the 
way, and they suffered severely in consequence. 
Colonel Haskell fell early in the day, wounded 
in three places, and Chaffee's Brigade, the 7th, 
12th, and 17th, lost heavily as they advanced 
against the citadel under a heavy fire from the 

308 



Attack on Caney 

town, besides the direct resistance from the fort and 
surrounding trenches. Colonel Miles, with the 1st, 
4th, and 25th Infantry, closed in on the west, 
coming up on the other side of the hill; and after 
Capron, with a few excellent shots, had crushed in 
a bastion and carried away the roof in a dozen places, 
a united charge took place, both brigades storming 
the hill. The soldiers in the trenches escaped into 
the town, however, and only eight privates and a 
corporal were captured. 

The first man to reach the fort and tear down the 
colors was James Creelman, the war correspondent. 
Speaking in Spanish, he told the survivors of the 
garrison to surrender, reassuring the poor wretches, 
who begged for quarter. Seizing the flag, he waved 
it triumphantly to the oncoming troops. When they 
saw their colors had fallen, the enemy opened heavily 
on the fort from the town. Creelman sank with a 
bullet in his shoulder, which tore its way through 
the blade, making a gaping wound three inches 
in diameter. The 25th Infantry suffered severely, 
ascending the hill; and though the citadel was the 
key to Caney, its capture had by no means ended 
the fight. Chaffee and Miles now led their forces 
against the town. General Ludlow's Brigade, 8th 
and 22d Infantry and 2d Massachusetts, moved 
against the defences on the northwest. The 1st 
Infantry extended, cutting off retreat to the hills, 
and a detachment of Cubans engaged the block- 
houses on the north, but made a poor showing, 

309 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

having expended their ammunition recklessly "before 
closing in. Being unable to obtain more, they could 
not drive out the enemy. 

Ludlow's brigade, afterward supported by the 11th 
Infantry, captured the blockhouses holding the high- 
road; and flanked by Cubans under Sanchez, they 
drove the enemy from an intrenched trail within fifty 
yards of the town. The enemy, realizing retreat 
impossible, and expecting no quarter, still resisted 
desperately, fighting from trench to trench. Lud- 
low's horse was shot under him. Colonel Paterson 
was wounded. Lieutenant McCorkle, 25th Infantrj^, 
Lieutenant Wansboro, 7th Infantry, and Lieutenant 
Field, 2d Massachusetts, were killed. 

Lieutenant Dickeson, 17th Infantry, under a heavy 
fire, nobly went to aid Colonel Haskell when he fell, 
and received two mortal wounds. He was struck a 
third time in the leg, just before he died. Captain 
Jackson, Lieutenant Lefferty, of the 7th; Lieu- 
tenants Dore and Churchman, 12th Infantry; Lieu- 
tenant Neary and Hughes, 4th Infantry; Captains 
Jones and Mosher and Lieutenant Godfrey, 22d In- 
fantry; Captain Warrener and Lieutenants Meyne- 
ham and Hapgood, 2d ^lassachusetts, and many 
other officers were wounded, encouraging their men 
under heavy fire. 

Vara del Rey meantime was apprised of a way of 
escape, and, seeing the day was lost, he hurriedly 
mustered the garrison in the town and prepared to 
evacuate, leaving the depleted defenders in the out- 

310 



Death of Vara del Rey 

works, to check the attacking force. Mounting his 
horse, he galloped across the plaza, but fell, pierced 
with two bullets. The garrison retreated, unseen, 
through a narrow path in the woods, dragging the 
general's body with them. Watchful Cuban scouts 
notified General Sanchez of the move, and he hurried 
De Coro over to head the Spaniards off. The vete- 
rans of the battalion " Constitucion " fought desper- 
ately, however; and though they relinquished Vara 
del Key's body and lost many men, they cut their 
way through the Cubans, and reached Santiago at 
night. Vara del Key's body was found next day. 

As the main body of the enemy withdrew, the 
whole American force were led at the charge against 
the town. The barricades were torn down, the out- 
works stormed ; and though a few desperate soldiers 
fought from house to house, Caney was soon in our 
hands. 

Lawton's division lost: killed, 4 officers, 74 men; 
wounded, 36 officers, 562 men ; missing, 62. Bates's 
additional brigade, 5 killed, and 2 officers and 26 men 
wounded. 



811 



CHAPTER XIV 

The Aftermath of San Juan. — The Wounded. — The 
Siege of Santiago. — Horrors of Caney. — Capitu- 
lation OF Toral. — Santiago after Surrender. — 
Close of the Campaign. 

"Death on the battlefield is a glorious thing," 
said General Von Francois, as his life blood gushed 
forth at Rothe Berg. After the flag waved over San 
Juan, and reaction from the excitement enabled us 
to realize the sad realities of victory, there seemed 
little glory for the silent forms that lay on the field 
where they had fallen ; or the hundreds of wounded 
who were helpless in the thicket, or crawled to the 
rear, with blood spurting from their wounds, to the 
dressing-station improvised in the creek bed. 

By Army Regulations, each soldier carries into 
action a first-aid dressing, — the Esmarck bandage and 
two antiseptic pads. Through negligence, perhaps of 
the men themselves, many were not supplied with 
this simple but indispensable adjunct. Medical 
supplies at the front were absolutely lacking in the 
Shafteresque confusion, save for the hospital pouches 
the surgeons had carried on their own shoulders. 
Thus the single surgeon apportioned to each regiment 
not only found before him the work of six, but he had 

312 



The Hospital Service 

nothing save the first-aid packages intended for 
application on the firing-line, to stay the life-blood 
that gushed from the rows of men awaiting attention. 
It is not for me to impute the blame. General 
Sternberg had provided ambulances and an abundance 
of medical necessaries ; but ambulances were left in 
Tampa by General Shafter, and the stores that were 
taken were loaded beneath the unlanded siege-guns, 
and could not be reached. 

No field hospital was equipped within specified 
distance, and the wounded were placed under shelter 
of a sand-bank, in the San Juan creek, and lay for 
hours awaiting cursory attention. Distracted surgeons 
tore up shirts and requisitioned handkerchiefs, under- 
clothing, anything, in lieu of bandages. The patients, 
if they could move, then crawled down to the 
divisional hospital four miles back, where Colonel 
Pope and Major Wood had hastily erected hospital 
tents and two operating-tables. I saw but one ambu- 
lance along the trail; there were the necessary 
stretchers for the heat prostrations and casualties 
attendant on peaceful summer manoeuvres, and the 
badly wounded were either dragged over the soggy 
road in a blanket or lay at the creek until the next day. 

Diagnostic tabs, which facilitate the work of the 
surgeon, were wanting at the front, and to save time 
and confusion. Major Pope took in patients in the 
order of arrival, — American, Cuban, or Spaniard 
in turn, — greatly to the surprise of the wounded 
enemy awaiting execution with becoming patience. . 

313 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Beyond the Rio Seco, near El Pozo, there was 
an admirable site for the field hospital, which was 
speedily utilized as a temporary station by Dr. Bell 
of the 71st. Its limited capacities were soon ex- 
hausted, and a long line of suffering men wended 
their way through the mud to Sevilla. 

At the San Juan. dressing-station, the bullets of the 
enemy, passing over the ridge, fell like hail in and 
around the stream. To make room behind the bank, 
we carried poor Mitchie and several other dead across 
the ford to await burial. When carrying one poor 
lad over, a bullet passed through the lifeless body, and 
a number of wounded were killed by sharpshooters in 
the trees, despite the Red Cross flag that was hoisted 
over the station. Quiet heroism abounded on all 
sides. Wounded officers lay at the front, refusing to 
be moved until privates had received attention. I 
offered an arm to one of the 13th, shot in the side. 
N " There is a man there that wants help more than I," 
! he said, pointing into the trees. He plodded down 
toward the station, leaning upon his rifle, and hearing 
a moan, I turned to see him fall on his face, shot 
through the throat. I joined Chaplain Swift a few 
minutes later. A spent ball had struck him in the 
knee, which had swollen considerably ; but he contin- 
ued aiding the wounded, under fire for two days and 
nights. He searched the dead also, taking charge of 
personal effects, and attempting to establish the 
identity of each, before the vultures commenced their 
work or the burial detail was sent out. This action 

314 



Lack of Identification 

of Chaplain Swift, and Dr. Yande water of the 71st, 
led to an infamous charge, made by certain cowardly 
volunteers, that the two chaplains had robbed dead 
bodies as they lay on the field. 

It was extremely difficult to establish the identity 
of the dead. Identification slips, which should con- 
tain in tabulated form the name, rank, regiment, and 
next of kin, of the wearer, were not supplied to the 
troops. Singularly, also, the individual regimental kit 
number, which in European armies must be stamped on 
every article of the soldier, was not in general vogue 
in the American army. It is a simple regulation, in- 
valuable in peace, essential in war. By its use, the 
misappropriation of kit, a common form of recruit 
hazing, would be impossible, and the possession of a 
full equipment by each soldier easily assured. In 
Cuba it was frequently impossible even to discover 
the regiment of a wounded or dead man, countless 
mistakes arose, and for weeks families at home endured 
a terrible suspense, when some loved one's name 
was posted as missing, whose body had probably 
been buried without identity by a fatigue party. 

The charges for the dynamite gun had been left at 
the dressing-station. Several shells burst near by, 
and an explosion of the dangerous ammunition was 
imminent, when Basil Ricketts, of the Rough Riders, 
and two troopers hurriedly dug a trench for the boxes. 
Bullets were falling around in all directions, and the 
enemy's sharpshooters also opened upon the little 
party. We had lifted the cases into the pit, when 
""^ 315 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Ricketts fell, shot in the groin. " Cover them up ; 
never mind me," he cried, as I stepped to aid him. I 
managed to drag him half-way over the river toward 
a place of shelter ; but he turned in the water, with his 
wound bleeding and the bullets splashing around, and 
instructed the men to place logs and stones over the 
pit-top for further protection. When this was done 
by Glackens the artist and two troopers, Ricketts con- 
sented to be carried out of range. 

The battle subsided into a desultory picquet fire at 
sunset. For an hour after dark, details scoured the 
valley for wounded, and surgeons worked on all night 
in the moonlight, while guerillas took pot-shots at 
them from the trees. Several attempts were made 
to dislodge sharpshooters in the woods, but screened 
amid the pinnated foliage of royal palms, and using 
smokeless powder, they were difficult to locate. Near 
the angle, two troopers pointed out a suspicious some- 
thing in a palm-tree, and creeping along the creek 
bank, we fired several shots, until first a rifle, then a 
body, fell crashing out into the bush. Two days 
later, two Cubans cut their way through the tangle 
to the place I indicated, and found the body of a 
Spanish sergeant. They brought out his coat with 
the red chevrons pinned on the sleeve and a Cross 
of San Fernando on the breast. Several Rough 
Riders also brought men down, and guerilla soon 
ceased to trouble. These guerilla had fired in- 
discriminately at wounded and litter-carriers far 
behind the firing-line. One band even fired into 

316 



Underestimate of Losses 

headquarters and at the field hospital in the next 
potrero, four miles behind San Juan. The enraged 
soldiers soon ceased to discriminate, and several harm- 
less pacificos were shot plucking mangoes, and many 
insurgents were killed at night by picquets, for not 
answering the foreign challenge promptly. Garcia's 
men grew wary of carrying despatches after dark, and 
gave our lines a wide berth, though starving negro 
pacificos hung round the camps in hundreds, and 
pestered the soldiers, who berated Cubans in general 
in consequence. 

Late at night, General Shafter cabled Washington 
that his aggregate losses were '' above four hundred ; 
of these not many are killed." Later he weakly 
admitted that he had underestimated the casualties, 
and asked for forty surgeons and a hospital ship. 
The anxiety caused by this despatch in the United 
States was aggravated by a silence at headquarters 
until July 3, when an urgent demand from the 
War Department elicited the fact that the city was 
well invested. 

The army worked far into the night intrenching, 
and then sank supperless in their muddy trenches 
to wait for daylight. A tired and hungry group 
gathered in a disused drying-yard, — Craiie, Harding 
Davis, Burr .Mcintosh, Hare, Glackens, and myself. 
Then NichoUs rode up and generously disgorged his 
saddle-bag's. Sir Brian Leisfhton of the British African 
Service joined us, and we supped royally on hardtack 
and canned bacon. We slept where we could, Sir 

317 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Brian securing two discarded blankets, with which 
we bivouacked in tlie sopping grass with some degree 
of comfort. At midnight the artillery moved to San 
Juan, and then the silence was broken only by groans 
of the wounded and hoarse challenges from the guards. 
At 4.30 A. M. the first glimmer of dawn was heralded 
by a volley from " the enemy, that drove in our out- 
posts and started the battle raging along the whole 
line. Major Dillonback's batteries opened well, but 
every Spanish rifle was soon directed against the 
guns, which were barely intrenched, and in great con- 
fusion the pieces were dragged from the ridges, that 
were absolutely untenable at such a range. Thus 
again the worn-out cavalry and infantry were without 
artillery support, in a country topographically a 
gunner's paradise had reconnaissance been made for 
the selection and preparation of suitable sites. The 
artillery officers had awaited the formulation of a plan 
of campaign, and several told me that they received 
no definite orders until late on July 2, when the guns 
were moved laboriously through the woods, to a ridge 
on the left of El Pozo, too late to be of effective ser- 
vice. The failure of the artillery in Cuba may be 
chiefly attributed to the lack of mobilization ma- 
noeuvres in the American army. Numbers of officers, 
absolutely proficient in every branch, had never had 
practical experience with combined branches, mobil- 
ized as an effective whole. An army is like a 
machine, and in the war with Spain the component 
parts were placed together for the first time, and the 

318 



The StafFof the Army 

working lacked harmony. Constant practice in the 
field with every corps on a war footing, the commis- 
sariat working with the line, can give the desired 
result. The United States has now adopted an out- 
side policy. Obviously the army must be adjusted to 
that policy, or the policy to the means of its defence. 
The blunders of the Santiago campaign proved the 
weakness of the system, and undoubtedly the object 
lesson will prove valuable, and should leave the army 
in the hands of trained soldiers rather than politicians. 
The staff of a modern army should be composed of 
officers who have been qualified by an exhaustive 
course in the staff college. In Cuba, men absolutely 
ignorant of military affairs held staff positions, and 
while they .proved their courage and patriotism, the 
youngest line subaltern was better fitted for the work, 
and the staff duties fell heavily on the few attached 
regular officers. The staff appointments of several 
Cuban gentlemen, notably Senores Maestre, Mendoza, 
Munoz, and Diaz, proved wise. They were all men- 
tioned in despatches, and received commissions for 
their services. Senor Munoz was shot through the 
jaw, but continued on duty. Lieutenant (now 
Colonel) Miley,^ who represented headquarters at 
the front, made superhuman effort to sustain rela- 
tions with the various brigades, fearlessly exposing 
himself in the performance of the work of a full 
staff. 

1 Colonel Milej died of typhoid fever in Manila, September 21, 
1899. 

319 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

General Bates's Independent Brigade, after reinforc- 
ing Lawton at Caney, moved over to support at San 
Juan. Lawton also moved his division on the night 
of the 1st, but, through a mistake in the road, he was 
forced to march through by El Pozo, extending and 
strengthening the lines on the right early on July 2. 
They were soon heavily engaged, receiving shells also 
from Cervera's fleet. This division marched and 
fought continuously for sixty hours, with nothing but 
hardtack and one ration of coffee. 

Durinof the battle on the 2d our losses were much 
lighter, but the creek bed and road were choked with 
wounded. In lieu of ambulances a few transport 
wagons were utilized to take them to the rear. Gen- 
eral Shafter, who has not learned the Pythagorean 
precept of silence, has stated that he left ambu- 
lances at Tampa, since army wagons bedded with 
straw make efficient transport for the wounded. 
At Santiago the straw failed to materialize. When 
wagons were sent to the front, the semi-naked 
wounded were laid in rows upon the rough bottoms 
and jolted back to the hospital. The springless 
wheels on the rough road made torture enough for 
the stricken men, but at the so-called rivers, mere 
streams that four hours' labour with the timber grov/- 
ing on the banks would have bridged, the teams first 
jolted down the steep banks, throwing the wounded 
in a bleeding, groaning heap at the head of the 
wagon. The rear wheels bumped into the water, 
throwing the human mass rudely apart ; and as the 

320 



Bloody Angle 

wagon was dragged laboriously up the opposite bank, 
the inmates slid toward the tailboard, shrieking and 
groaning in their helpless agony. Bandages became 
loosened, hemorrhages re-started, and men who had 
gone forth to bravely fight for their country a few 
hours previously, begged piteously to be killed to 
end the agony entailed by official negligence. 

The communication with the front was difficult 
and dangerous. Bullets and shells from Santiago fell 
behind San Juan in continuous hail. Several men 
wounded at the front were killed when going to the 
rear. When helping a wounded Rough Rider to the 
dressing-station, a shell buried itself in the ground at 
our side and exploded, killing my Cuban mule and 
blinding us with dirt and splinters. As we hurried 
to the creek bank, Captain Danforth, the surgeon of 
the 9th Cavalry, whom I had previously met as physi- 
cian to the Cuban Government, turned to greet us, and 
fell shot through both temples. Two wounded men 
were again hit, and two horses fell writhing over on 
the Hotchkiss gun to which they were attached. It 
seemed that the Spaniards purposely directed their 
fire at this place, protected by the Red Cross, though 
I believe the configuration of the ground caused 
the bullets to drop there. Poor Danforth had been 
a great exponent for Cuba libre ; and as we gently 
lifted his quivering body to shelter, I remembered his 
former prognostication, " 1 shall die for Cuba." 

There was no lull in the firing all day, and one 
instinctively worked among the wounded, for " the 
21 321 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

harvest was plenteous, but the laborers were few." 
During the afternoon the first attempts were made 
to bury the dead. Chaplain Brown conducted a ser- 
vice under fire over the grave of Captain O'Neil, and 
later assisted Chaplain Swift with a general burial in 
the valley. It may console the friends of many who 
fell during those terrible days, to know that their dear 
ones were not thrust into unhallowed graves when 
they fell on the battlefield, thanks only to these 
devoted chaplains, who stood bareheaded, motionless, 
the target for sharpshooters, in the path of spent fire, 
and who emerged scathless through divine protec- 
tion. The dead were shrouded in blankets or tentes 
d'abri, and were laid in reverse rows in a large pit. 
There were but four mourners, — two negroes, a cor- 
poral of the 71st, and myself. Erelong bullets began 
to whistle around, but neither chaplain recked it. 
" Ashes to ashes ! Dust to dust ! " Dr. Brown's 
voice broke ; his colleague finished the service. 
Then each chaplain seized a spade and filled the 
grave. 

At sunset General Shafter started to the front 
for the first time. Cowardice is certainly not one of 
his attributes, for as he rode across the Rio Seco, 
a party of guerilla opened down the ford. The 
sentry at the crossing fell dead, but the commander- 
in-chief rode coolly on, a few cavalrymen empty- 
ing their carbines into the trees. The general did 
not ride out to the lines, and few knew of his excur- 
sion. The firing died away with the daylight, and 

322 



Night on the Battlefield 

having secured my horse, I started to ride toward 
Caney, hoping to aid Creeiman. I pressed on, guided 
only by the stars, but soon became hopelessly en- 
tangled in a swamp. At the De Crot House, I 
learned from Follingsby that a stretcher and bearers 
were imperative. There were no litters at the front, 
though the Cuban officer at the Pozo offered me six 
men as carriers. So I decided to ride in to Siboney, 
and returned to the firing-line to collect any letters 
or despatches that officers might care to send down. 

As I crossed the battlefield, the full moon poured 
down a lurid glare that made the country light as 
day. Dark objects lay silently in the valley, stark 
and stiff ; uncanny vultures blinked like owls in the 
moonlight, so emboldened by the carnage that one's 
advent disturbed them little ; over all rose the inde- 
scribable odor of blood and death. In the trenches 
above, the worn-out supperless troops had sunk in 
the mud in troubled sleep. 

I had collected several letters, when a light flickered 
toward the Cobre Road, and a distant skirmish fire 
was heard. Then a second fire appeared on the hill 
to the west, and finally a third blaze appeared behind 
Estrella Point. Kabbi, under cover of the darkness, 
had taken Cubans round to the west shore and fired 
the Spanish blockhouses, which were evacuated as he 
approached. At the same time he opened fire against 
the Spanish ships and on the trenches at the head of 
the Bay. The Spaniards, thinking the expected as- 
sault on the city by land and sea was to take place, 

323 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

were terror-stricken. At sword point, officers drove 
their men to form outposts to check the expected 
onslaught. This movement stampeded a mule, which 
galloped toward the American lines. Our picquets 
challenged and fired, and the Spaniards turned to 
run baclv to the city. Their jabbering, and the 
attempt of Toral's staff officers to stay the retreat, 
broke the stillness as our worn-out troops Avere 
aroused by the pic que t fire. The alarm spread : our 
startled men opened a wild fire ; the outposts came 
tearing in. The alert defenders before Santiago 
responded heavily ; their outposts in the valley, falling 
on their faces to escape the fire of friend and foe, 
also commenced to shoot. The opposing lines were 
marked by successive sheets of flame, and though 
the advanced Spaniards suffered heavily, no American 
was killed or wounded. The fight soon subsided, as 
if by mutual consent. Brilliant word painters have 
described this " night attack " in thrilling language, 
artists never in Cuba have painted desperadoes con- 
gruent to Sidonia's caravels, storming our trenches. 
Since in places but three hundred yards intervened 
between the opposing lines, the outposts advanced on 
either side were very close, and each side accuses the 
other of attacking and being repulsed. Minds worn 
by strain and fasting readily conjure phantasms, and 
the cries of the Spanish outposts and the sudden 
awakening led many of our men to believe that the 
enemy resolutely charged the line, and, as such, it 
will perhaps go down to history. 

324 



A Needless Night Alarm 

The alarm caused a deplorable stampede at the 
divisional hospital. Some frightened volunteers 
dashed into headquarters, shouting that the enemy 
had broken our line. Some of the staff lost their 
heads; their needless panic spread to the hospital, 
where rows of wounded lay in the grass awaiting 
attention. Some pleaded to be killed rather than 
left to the enemy ; several, with blood spurting from 
their wounds, started to run through the mud ; others 
called for rifles, swearing that they would die like 
men, not like dogs. It was several minutes before 
the panic was stayed. 

The alarm over, I was asked to carry a requisition 
for field dressings to Major Lugarde at Siboney; 
Miley also had been reported killed, and wished a 
cable sent to his wife. As I splashed over the ford, 
flashes and reports rang out as the guerilla took ridic- 
ulous pot-shots at me in the dark, revealing their 
position. Replying with a couple of shots, I rode on 
across country to the coast, overtaking Scovel on the 
road. Our horses sank to the knees in the swamp, 
rivers were swollen with heavy rain, and at a late 
hour we reached Siboney. 

At the base hospital there, with the navy and fleet of 
transports in the offing, there was a lack of everything, 
and men were virtually dying for the want of nourish- 
ing food. So few hospital supplies had been unloaded 
that before July 1, when the army was buoyed against 
sickness by the prospect of the combat, the wounded 
from Guasimas alone overtaxed the hospital facilities. 

325 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Hay spread on the ground and covered with blankets 
formed the bed of the patients ; land crabs, scorpions, 
and tarantulas worried the men repeatedly, and they 
bitterly resented the treatment of the country they 
had bled for. Miss Barton and her staff on the Red 
Cross ship " State of Texas " were waiting at Guan- 
tanamo, with tons of supplies for the Cubans, Just 
before the San Juan battle, Mr. Davies ran his 
despatch boat down to the " Texas," and informed 
Miss Barton of the dire need of the hospital at 
Siboney. Regardless of red tape. Miss Barton moved 
the " Texas " down the coast, and finding a lack of 
cots, clean linen, cooking utensils, medical supplies, 
and suitable food at the hospital, she landed her entire 
staff and the necessary stores, just as the hundreds of 
wounded began to pour in from San Juan. 

Little did the generous Americans who sent the 
••' Texas " for the Cubans realize that their donations 
would providentially succor their own soldiers, 
whose lives were imperilled by incompetent official- 
dom. With Dr. Lesser, his devoted wife. Sister 
Bettina, and Sisters Anne, Minna, Isabel, and Blanche, 
and Mrs. Trumbull White stood for hours by the 
operating-tables, assisting the tireless surgeons and 
soothing the suffering men with the divine influence 
God has bestowed on woman. The army had pro- 
vided little beyond hardtack and field rations for 
the wounded, and had no facilities for cooking. The 
Sisters prepared rice and gruel over braziers, and 
thus only did the wounded obtain the food they could 

326 



Hospital Shortcomings 

assimilate. Day and night tlie devoted Sisters slaved, 
with brief respites of sleep on sides of packing-cases 
covered with a blanket ; and it is small wonder that 
they all sickened and were removed in a dangerous 
condition to the hospital ship. 

Ice is imperative in a hospital in the tropics. 
During the Ashanti and Benin campaigns half -civil- 
ized Houssa soldiers in the British service found ice 
in the hospitals in the West African jungle ; but in 
Cuba, an island adjacent to their own shores, the 
American army moved without an ice-machine or 
arrangements for manufacture of ice on one of the 
forty transports. Mr. Hearst, from his yacht " Sylvia," 
sent several tons to the hospital ship " Olivette " 
and to Siboney, and thus by private ministration 
fevered wounds were kept cool, and dangerous com- 
plications averted. The correspondents from the 
despatch boats spent their spare time in nursing, 
Davies, McNichol, Root, Anderson, and others as- 
siduously working. Mumford turned the Journal 
headquarters into a ward, in which he personally 
tended all the officers he could accommodate until he 
fell with yellow fever contracted by exposure at the 
front and the long hours he devoted to this work. 
Self-sacrifice was thus rewarded in Cuba. 

When I arrived at Siboney, the surgeons Avere still 
busy at the tables, and Major Lugard, blood-stained, 
and weary from lack of sleep, turned patiently to 
hear my story from the front. He gave me all the 
dressings he could spare, and after talking with Miss 

327 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Barton, she arranged with Dr. Egan, Dr. and Mrs. 
Gardner, Dr. Hubbell, and Mr. Kennon to take a 
wagon-load of stores to the front. Miss Barton was 
joined by Mrs. Horace Porter at the field hospital, 
and they worked for many days at the front. 

I stepped softly between the rows of suffering sol- 
diers that night at Siboney ; fires outside and flicker- 
ing lanterns lit up the gaunt faces, some stamped 
with approaching death. Amid all the anguish, few 
groaned; some raved in delirium, one boyish lieu- 
tenant again urging his men forward in the historic 
charge. Some wounded that I had assisted at the 
front gave me a faint smile of recognition ; a corporal 
watched with anxious eyes for his brother, taken to 
the table, and when tliey gently told him the soldier 
had answered a higlier call, he gave up hope and died, 
sobbing quietly. His name I never learned, but in a 
blood-stained wallet we found the picture of the 
sweet-faced mother who had given both her sons to 
her country. May they all be united at the great 
Reveille ! 

Snatching three hours' sleep, I obtained a litter for 
Creelman and started back to the front before sun- 
rise. Branching off by a side trail to cross the hills 
to Caney, I rode some distance up the spur of the 
Condella to locate my position. Below stretched the 
glorious country. The sea shone like a polished 
mirror framed by the ironstone coast; the white 
houses and drying-yards of coffee-estates, nestling 
peacefully in the undulating valley, strongly con- 

328 



Cervera's Fleet Destroyed 

trasted with the sea of variegated foliage below. 
Before Santiago lay the two opposing armies, — an 
artillery duel in progress between Shafter and Toral. 

As I gazed on this scene, I remembered it was Sun- 
day. In America thousands, saddened by the news 
of the two days' battle and its sacrifices, were praying 
for their army in the field. In Spain the people 
knew little of the straits of their forces, and cele- 
brated their " impending victory " by fiesta and bull- 
fight. At that time the American troops were de- 
pressed. They realized the inability of their line to 
withstand combined onslaught of the enemy. The 
army could go no further: it could do nothing to ex- 
pel Cervera's fleet or capture the city; heavy rains and 
increasing sickness made the prospect dark indeed. 
And at that moment the God of battles hearkened to 
his people's cry and placed victory in their hands. 

Scanning the Bay, I could see no trace of the 
Spanish squadron. Then also I noticed an unusual 
roar of guns to seaward. Morro was wreathed in 
smoke, the shore batteries also, and I decided that 
Sampson was trying to force the harbor and Cervera 
had moved down the Bay to meet him. The narrow 
entrance and the sea beyond was hidden by the foot- 
hills, and I was all unconscious of the decisive action 
being fought below them. 

Ifound Creelman later, but at headquarters. The 
field hospital at Caney had been stampeded by the 
night alarm, and the wounded had crawled six miles 
through the mud to the centre division. He was in a 

329 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

raging fever, and we carried him to the hospital. His 
shattered shoulder-blade was dressed, and Bengough 
and Stoddard aided him to Siboney. Truce was de- 
clared that morning to enable the burial of the dead. 
During the afternoon, as I talked with Lieutenant 
Wheeler before his father's tent, a despatch arrived 
for the general announcing the destruction of Cer- 
vera's fleet that morning. The news spread down 
the line from brigade to brigade, and the worn men 
raised themselves in the trenches and gave a cheer 
that sent the enemy scuttling back to the trenches 
they had left. 

General Shafter had realized the seriousness of the 
position to which his army had plunged with such 
loss. Without sufficient artillery he could do noth- 
ing, and just as the fleet steamed out and accom- 
plished for itself the main object of our expedition, 
he cabled the following despatch : — 

Secretary of War, Washington, — We have town 
well invested on north and east, but with very thin line. 
Upon approaching it, we find it of such a character and 
the defences so strong that it will be impossible to 
carry it by storm with my force, and I am seriously 
considering withdrawing about five miles and taking up 
a new position on the high ground between the Sau 
Juan Eiver and Siboney, with our left at Sardinero. . . . 

Shafter, Major-General. 

This message reached Washington at 11.44; and 
Secretary Alger, in rejjly, advised, for the sake of the 

330 



An Altered Situation 

effect on the country, that San Juan be held if pos- 
sible, and promised reinforcements.^ 

The news of Cervera's defeat changed everything. 
General Shafter sent in a demand of surrender to 
General Toral, informing him of the loss of the fleet. 
But a few hours before, the Spanish general had cabled 
Blanco and Madrid that Cervera had escaped, and 
General Aguirre at Cienfuegos was ordered to re- 
ceive the squadron with ostentation, and General 
Correa cabled his congratulations to the Admiral. 
One can but sympathize with unhappy Spain, whose 
jubilation was turned to despair when they learned 
the absolute loss of the squadron. 

Toral, however, staunchly declined to capitulate, but 
did all in his power to prolong the truce until reinforce- 
ments, marching from Manzanillo, should arrive to aid 
him in repelling the assault he hourly expected, but 
which Shafter was powerless to carry out. Thanks to 
the Cubans, daily reports of the relieving column from 
Manzanillo reached headquarters. Garcia with two 
thousand men was holding the extreme right, cutting 
off the San Luis valley and the five thousand men 
garrisoned there within sixteen miles of the belea- 
guered city but kept in ignorance of Toral's straits 
by the vigilance of the insurgents holding the inter- 
vening valley. Garcia, realizing the impossibility of 

1 General Shafter has not explained why so many men were 
sacrificed and the army moved into the position before he discov- 
ered the fortifications too strong to storm. Intelligent recon- 
naissance could have informed him of this a week before the 
battle. 

331 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

holding the entire west of the Bay against six thou- 
sand Spaniards, who might advance at any point of his 
scattered lines, asked and received permission from 
Shafter to ship half his men, under Rabbi, down the 
coast a few miles to Assedero, where, in conjunction 
with Colonel Estrada at Contre Maestre, they could 
hold a pass at the Aguacate River through Avhich the 
Spaniards must march. In that position only could 
the insurgents stay the advancing force supposed to 
be under Pan do, though Escario subsequently proved 
to be in command. 

After the destruction of the fleet General Shafter 
decided that the Rabbi expedition was unnecessary. 
He believed the city would surrender, and said that 
if Escario gained entry there would be the more 
prisoners to his credit. Garcia stated that he would 
do his best to hold them out, but realized that it was 
impossible with his thin line. Escario had a column 
of thirty-three hundred infantry, two hundred and 
fifty cavalry, two field-guns, and sixty transport 
mules. The insurgents had harassed him on the 
march to Contra Maestre, where Colonel Estrada and 
six hundred of the Maceo Regiment made a strong 
stand. Both the Spanish battalions, Isabel la 
Catolica and Andalusia charged the position, but 
were driven back ; and liad Rabbi and his force been 
sent over, Escario admits that the Spaniards must 
have been routed. Finally, however, Estrada's meagre 
ammunition gave out, and flanked by tlie Chasseurs 
of Puerto Rico, the six hundred Cubans fell back. 

332 



Escario's Entry 

The enemy crossed the Cobre Hills at daybreak, 
and skirting the bay, entered the city during the 
truce. The Cuban outposts there had been given 
explicit orders not to fire without orders, pending 
which the Spaniards gained the city. General Garcia 
keenly felt the unjust charges made against his forces, 
and those officers who knew his position exonerated 
him entirely. General Ludlow, who was on the 
extreme flank, eulogizes the Cuban forces in his 
report, mentioning Sanchez and others by name, and 
no other officer was brought into closer contact with 
the ragged patriots. To judge them beside trained 
American soldiers was, of course, impossible. Three 
times they intrenched, though without tools, and 
cheerfully relinquished the result of their labor to 
the Americans, when the lines extended to the right. 

They carried wounded, drew rations but twice ; 
and the reports, inspired by the conduct of starving 
pacificos and exaggerated by irresponsible correspond- 
ents, that credited the Cuban rebels with laziness 
and theft, are not only unjust but absolutely false. 
The stories of atrocities upon Spanish prisoners were 
palpable fakes. The insurgents in Santiago rendered 
much service to the army unostentatiously, and have 
gained nothing but abuse. Had Shafter given Garcia 
definite orders, they would have been carried out. In 
General Miles's words, " Our requests were as com- 
mands to the brave Cuban." 

On July 5 a second demand for the surrender of 
Santiago under threat of bombardment was rejected 

333 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

by Toral, and non-coinbatants were advised to leave 
the city. The inhabitants had suffered terrible 
privations, and on the 1st and 2d they were 
terrorized by shells from the warships that fell in all 
parts of the town. The consuls drew up a letter of 
protest to Admiral Sampson, against shelling the 
place without due warning. The guns, however, 
were directed against the defences behind Aguadores 
at great elevation, and unintentionally overreached 
the mark. Cervera on the 1st had threatened to 
shell the city should the Americans gain entrance, 
and gave notice to that effect. Rather than face this, 
the French consul and his subjects went to Cuavitas 
and entered the Cuban lines. The British consul, 
Mr. Ramsden, cabled for a warship to remove the 
people under his care. The panic was indescribable, 
when Shafter's ultimatum was delivered. 

The consuls passed out to see General Wheeler, 
pointing out that the destruction of Santiago would 
not harm Spain materially, since the city was looked 
upon as doomed ; it could only destroy the homes 
and drive out the inhabitants to starve in a country 
devastated by Weylerism. The effect of their appeal 
was the grant of one day longer for the people to move 
out. H. :M. S. " Alert " and " Pallas " removed British 
subjects, and twenty thousand people moved out 
beyond our lines, little recking that Shafter's threat 
was backed only by a few field-guns. Toral, pointing 
out, ironically, that since he had now several thousand 
less mouths to feed, he had plenty of supplies for his 

334 



Shafter Implores Naval Aid 

troops, then positively refused to surrender. Without 
siege-guns or mortars, Shafter was unable to follow 
up his ultimatum, and his strategy gained nothing 
and rendered thousands of women and children 
homeless. 

Having acted independently of Admiral Sampson, 
by not advancing against Morro Castle and the shore 
batteries, the commanding-general now turned help- 
lessly to the navy, demanding that they should force 
an entrance to the harbor and attack from the Bay. 
Since it would assuredly have resulted in the loss of 
one or more vessels, the sinking of which would have 
closed the channel. Admiral Sampson declined to 
make the attempt. On July 4, the commander-in- 
chief cabled to Washington as follows : — 

Adjutant-General, Washington : In the Field, near 
San Juan Eiver, 4. — I regard it as necessary that the 
navy force an entrance into the harbor of Santiago not 
later than the 6th inst., and assist in the capture of 
that place. If they do, I believe the place will sur- 
render without further sacrifice of life. 

Shafter, Major-General. 

This message he supplemented by a further appeal 
one hour later, stating that the sure and speedy waiy 
to take the city was through the Bay, otherwise 
he would require 15,000 more men speedily, and 
doubted if they could be landed, since it was getting 
stormy ; and during the afternoon he repeated his first 
message. Secretary Alger wrote to Secretary Long, 

335 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

asking Hm to order the navy to force the Bay at 
once; but since the War Department had sent the 
army into its precarious position, disregarding the 
only feasible plan of co-operation with the fleet for 
joint attack, Secretary Long refused to overrule 
Admiral Sampson. Adjutant-General Corbin then 
sent the following despatch to General Shafter: 

" Your telegram concerning the navy enteriag Santiago 
Harbor received, and your action thoroughly approved. 
The Secretary of War suggests that if the navy will not 
undertake to break through, take a transport, cover the 
pilot-house in most exposed points with baled hay, at- 
tach an anchor to a towline, and if possible grapple the 
torpedo cables, and call for volunteers from the army — 
not a large number — to run into tlie harbor, thus making 
a way for the navy. Before acting, telegraph what you 
think of it. One thing is certain : that is, the navy must 
go into the harbor, and must save the lives of our brave 
men that will be sacrificed if we assault the enemy in his 
entrenchments without aid. This is strictly confidential 
to you." 

The insanity of advocating baled hay to shield an 
unarmored transport from modern projectiles that 
had ignited the wood lining of Cervera's ironclads, is 
obvious. The certain sinking of the burning steamer 
in the tortuous channel of the harbor would have 
effectually barred out the navy, completing the work 
attempted by the enemy with the " Reina Mercedes." 

On July 6 the truce was extended for the exchange 
336 



Nonae Caprotinae 

of Lieutenant Arias and fourteen privates for Lieu- 
tenant Hobson and the crew of the " Merrimac." The 
exchange was conducted by Colonel Astor, Lieutenant 
Miley, and Captain Maestre, and Comandante Irles 
and Captain Rios who conducted Hobson and his 
men from the city. The heroic sailors received a 
profuse welcome from the army as they crossed the 
lines, and at night they were all back on the flagship. 
During the afternoon Captain Chadwick of the " New 
York " and Lieutenant Wood of the " Gloucester " 
visited headquarters. The captain pointed out the 
impracticability of the navy forcing the harbor. 

The Junta of defence met in Santiago. Several 
officers advocated surrender, the clerical party advised 
it, Linares wavered, and the brave Toral was in a quan- 
dary. Irles sprang to his feet and in an impassioned 
appeal reminded them that they were custodians of 
Spain's honor ; that Shafter showed no disposition 
to end the truce and bombard. As soldiers, they must 
resist to the last ditch ; as cowards, surrender. The 
effervescible Latins were roused again, though three 
officers and several privates deserted in the night and 
entered the Cuban lines. 

During the protracted truce the formation of our 
lines completely changed, and nightly, the troops 
closed in, drawing the cordon tighter. But the 
soldiers grew dispirited with inaction : exposure and 
army rations were beginning to tell, and finally yellow 
fever broke out. On July 7, Nonse Caprotinse, a 
frightful storm raged, and, wondering at the general 
22 337 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

inaction, a classical trooper suggested that the com- 
manding-general had emulated Romulus, and disap- 
peared in the midst of it. Other storms followed, 
swamping the trenches and adding to the difficulties 
and discomforts of the army. Had injudicious 
censorship allowed news of the plight of the forces to 
reach Madrid, and had Toral been notified to hold out 
longer, the army, sent unequipped to face fever, 
famine, and Spain, must either have hurled its de- 
pleted strength against the city's defences, to save 
a national disgrace by assault at frightful sacrifice, 
or faced annihilation by disease and privation. 

The banks of the three rivers crossing the line of 
communications were steep and well wooded. A few 
hours and palm-trees would have effectively bridged 
them. A tie-block trestle or single-lock span would 
not only have allowed the passage of light artillery 
and transport trains, but would have saved the con- 
stant immersion of the troops, who were forced to 
wade or swim across San Juan several times each 
day. During the Avhole campaign the men thus 
lived and slept constantly in wet clothes ; and there 
were many victims of latent malaria thus developed 
by negligence that even France was not guilty of in 
her disastrous Madagascar expedition. 

Foreign attaches were amazed to find officers faring 
the same as their men. I frequently messed on pork, 
hardtack, and poor water with cavalry officers. Their 
men had coffee, but they explained apologetically, 
'' We do not sponge on their ration, for they need it 

338 



Self-Sacrifice of Officers 

more than we." Colonel Evan Miles was told by the 
doctors that his life was endangered by lack of food, 
and that he must be invalided home. He could not 
assimilate hardtack, and he had no tent at the front, 
though commanding a brigade. But he stayed reso- 
lately with his men, and, too ill to stand, I have seen 
him wrapped in his cape and propped above the mud 
and water by ammunition boxes, directing operations 
night and day. When the city surrendered, he con- 
sented to be invalided home. Heroism and self- 
sacrifice existed along the whole line, and such 
officers can lead men anywhere and to do anything. 

But the sufferings of the army were as nothing 
compared to the privations endured by the unfortunate 
non-combatants from Santiago. They were huddled 
in thousands in El Caney ; every house was so crowded 
that none could lie down, but squatted on the floors 
of the rooms and on the piazzas, unable to move. 

Delicate wives and daughters of merchants, promi- 
nent residents of the city, were herded in with dirty 
negroes and the scum of the population. There was 
no privacy. Food was unobtainable, though the 
woods were scoured for mangoes, which were fortu- 
nately plentiful and alone staved off starvation. The 
town resembled a vast reeking pigsty, — there were 
absolutely no sanitary observances ; the streets were 
littered with filth ; in the one stream that provided 
the refugees with drinking water, the people washed 
their clothes and themselves, and it was polluted by 
surface drainage. 

339 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

The emaciated survivors of the reconcentrados, 
whose pudicity had departed through force of circum- 
stances, thought little of the lack of privacy ; but the 
delicate Cuban ladies from the city felt their position 
keenly until they also sank into the apathy of starva- 
tion. In single rooms fifty persons were sheltered, 
ladies in silken robes and beggars in rags. Money 
availed nothing, and on several occasions, when I 
rode out with the few tins of beef and the hardtack 
I could secure for special cases, I saw the fortunate 
recipients offered and refuse gold pieces for a single 
biscuit, and one man produced twenty-five dollars to 
buy a can of beef. Most of the wealthier class left 
Santiago before the blockade, especially the families 
of the Spanish merchants, and the officers' wives 
stayed in the city ; but there were Spanish and Cuban 
ladies in silks and satins abjectly starving in Caney. 

The most pitiable sights were to be seen in the 
Plaza and the side streets, where thousands of peo- 
ple were unable to obtain shelter and lay exposed 
to sun and storm, the former perhaps the more trying. 
Two loads of food were sent out on the fifth day, but 
these supplies Avere as the ten loaves and fishes for 
the multitude, with no miracle of increase. Then the 
Red Cross workers arrived, and Dr. Elwell did what 
he could to relieve, but " No transport available " was 
the answer to his entreaties to headquarters, and tons 
of food spoiled at Siboney, while hundreds starved 
but thirteen miles away. 

One could not fail to notice the wagons that daily 
340 



The Hungry at Caney 

arrived at headquarters with forage for the horses of 
the general and staff and his cavalry escort, when 
vast potreros of Parana grass in the valley guar- 
anteed food for the animals. One of those wagons 
filled with food each day would have saved much 
suffering to the men at the front and to the refugees, 
for whose plight we were morally if not legally 
responsible. Each day caldrons of soup were made, 
and this distribution led to fierce riots, in which 
weak buffeted with strong in a struggle for the pre- 
cious decoction that was exhausted before one-fiftieth 
of the crowd had been served. Frail women and chil- 
dren were trampled under foot in the mad rush ; men 
forgot their chivalry in the fight for food, which they 
usually wanted for their own little ones, and few but 
the most resolute, and therefore the least needy, ven- 
tured into the seething crowd. In the scenes of suffer- 
ing and misery women were reduced until they priced 
their honor for a morsel of food for their dear ones. 

The more intelligent class roundly berated General 
Shafter, when his threat of bombardment was post- 
poned from day to day. "How dare he," they 
argued, " drag us out to this misery and then make 
no effort to bombard the city into surrender.? All 
these days of truce we might have stayed at home." 
Rumors reached the people later of supplies ad lib. at 
Siboney, and then a steady stream of fugitives started 
through the muddy trails to make one effort to reach 
the land of plenty. They had to carry their effects 
or discard them. The streams were swollen, the roads 

341 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

quagmires ; and it made one's heart ache, to see the 
helpless women and children wading and stumbling 
down that fearful fifteen miles to the coast, hundreds 
falling by the way from sheer weakness. Many died 
from exhaustion ; but the majority either gave up in 
despair and returned to Caney, or managed to reach 
the main road from Siboney to Santiago, where the 
passing troops, touched by the mute appeal on those 
despondent faces, devoted the greater part of their 
own scanty rations to aid them on the way. It took 
the people three days to reach the looked-for Mecca, 
which then turned out to be a plague spot of yellow 
fever, quarantine enforced, and no shelter or rest for 
their weary bodies. 

The Red Cross, however, soon opened a relief depot, 
and finally many were housed in the coffee store- 
houses on the hillside, the residue existing as they 
miofht in the woods. 

On July 10, Toral, receiving prompt rejection of 
his offer to capitulate if allowed to march out with 
full honors of war, requested that cable operators 
might go to the city, to transmit to Madrid the terras 
of unconditional surrender demanded. General Ran- 
dolph arrived with additional field batteries, and 
the 1st District of Columbia and 3d Illinois Volun- 
teers also marched to the front. Despite these 
reinforcements, Toral, that afternoon, sent out a 
defiant letter to Shafter, stating that he could sustain 
a long siege, and reiterated his refusal to surrender, 
save with a safe conduct for his army with full honors. 

342 



The Bombardment Opens 

To this Shafter sent a terse reiteration for uncondi- 
tional surrender, and the Sunday quietude was broken 
by a scattering volley and a shell from the Spaniards, 
as they defiantly dragged down the white flag. Our 
artillery were at extreme range, and opened at 4 p. m. 
The suffering soldiers, sick with inaction, tumbled 
into the trenches, and the fighting restarted. With 
Armstrong and Bengough I rode out to the advance 
ridges, to witness the effect of the bombardment. 
The mortars threw bombs, rather ineffectually, 
against the hillside leading to the city, and the field- 
guns did little damage. One shrapnel, however, 
struck Fort St. Inez, killing three privates, and 
wounding Colonel Pascual, Lieutenant Diaz, and fif- 
teen men. Alsoj) Burrows also planted a shot from 
the dynamite gun right below a bronze cannon just 
mounted by Melgar. The piece was hurled from its 
carriage, the gunners blown to atoms, and the escarp- 
ment torn up for thirty feet. The Spanish repl}^ was 
badly directed, and shells hissed and screamed over 
our heads, bursting in the woods in rear. Their 
Hontoria planted three shells at the foot of our out- 
works, and one, tearing its way through the military 
crest of the ridge, burst under a bomb proof, killing 
Captain Rowell and Nelson, and wounding Lieuten- 
ant Lutz and several privates, all of the Second. 

The shells from the fleet were more effective, 
though fired at very great elevation over the foothills, 
and ranged by mathematical calculation. Several 
houses were demolished; but with such precedents 

343 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

as Sebastopol, Strasburg, and Paris, it was easy to 
realize that Shafter's threat to knock Santiago to 
pieces with his puny field-guns was futile; even 
aided by a powerful navy, it might take long to 
force surrender. 

At night General Ludlow moved his brigade round 
at the extreme right, his tired forces occupying 
trenches voluntarily erected with stupendous difficulty 
by Garcia's men. At daybreak on the 11th, firing 
was resumed ; but the Spaniards replied weakly. Our 
left was but three hundred yards from the enemy's 
position ; and from the trenches of the 21st Infantry 
a very clear view of the enemy was obtainable. 
Colonel McKibben turned a round hill into a redoubt, 
and, with Captain Ebstein and Captain Cornman, 
commanding battalions, a continuous fire was directed 
against the enemy's guns. But the position was far 
from comfortable, and it was a terrible ordeal to lie 
hour after hour, behind scanty cover, while a frontal, 
oblique, enfilade and cross fire was poured against the 
position, with seven-inch shells thumping over into 
the centre of the hill at intervals. With Lieutenants 
Mullay and Martin I squirmed through the brush 
clothing the ridge, and viewed the batteries erected 
directly opposite. The judgment of these officers — 
that several "guns" the enemy had mounted were 
but logs of wood — proved correct. We could 
plainly see large shells from the " Brooklyn " drop- 
ping among the intrenchments on the hillside. 

At 2 p. M. the bugles rang out " Cease firing ! " as 
344 



Arrival of General Miles 

a boyish-looking " alvarez " stepped fearlessly up on 
the enemy's earthworks and planted the white flag. 
General Wheeler then rode out to meet General 
Toral, who now asked for time to consider " uncondi- 
tional surrender." Our men again sank apathetically 
into their trenches, cursing their plight, and urging 
that it were better to die like men in assaulting 
Santiago than like dogs in a ditch. 

On the following day General Miles ^ and General 
Henry arrived with reinforcements, and at 9 a. m. a 
flag was sent, asking General Toral to meet the 
commander-in-chief. Generals Shafter, Wheeler, and 
Gilmour, Colonel Morse, and aides, moved out 
beyond the lines to attend the conference, and Toral 
manifested that his desire to surrender was only 
outweighed by the fear of blame in Spain. But the 
advent of the general-in-chief and reinforcements had 
a marked effect: Toral retired to consult Sagasta 
and Blanco over the cable. Blanco at once acqui- 
esced, and several hours later the Spanish Cabinet 
accepted the inevitable, on condition that the gar- 
rison should be repatriated. 

1 Landing at Siboney, General Miles was horrified to find the 
terrible defilation ; and learning of Major Lugard's futile appeals 
to headquarters for men to police the base, he sent an order to the 
front. Next day the 25th Infantry marched into Siboney ; the 
town was burned by night and the defilation covered. But the 
recognition of the subtle enemy in rear, far more to be dreaded than 
the Spaniard at the front, was too late. Several cases of sickness 
were recognized as yellow fever, and as victim after victim fell in 
its ravages, the men who had fought so fearlessly, blanched at the 
foe no man can combat. A few days' prolongation of the siege, and 
the army was doomed. 

345 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

With graceful tact General Miles did not stay to 
share the triumphs of the victory he had done much 
to consummate. Before sailing to Puerto Rico he sent 
Shafter instructions as to army camps, to which the 
latter querulously replied that he had understood that 
he was not to be superseded in command. In quiet 
irony General Miles replied that he had the honor to 
command the United States Army, of which Shafter's 
force was a part, and the incident closed. 

A commission consisting of General Wheeler, 
General Lawton, and Lieutenant Miley, met General 
Escario, Colonel Fontan, and Mr. Mason, British 
Vice -Consul, to arrange the terms of capitulation. 
The Spaniards finally agreed to surrender the whole 
division of Santiago; i.e.^ the portion of Cuba east 
of a line drawn through Aserradero, Dos Palmas, 
Cauto, Tanamo, and Aguilera; the United States to 
transport all troops in the command to Spain ; officers 
to retain their side arms; the forces to march from 
the city with honors of war, laying down their arms 
at a given point, it being understood that the com- 
missioners would recommend that the Spanish 
soldier return to Spain with the arms he so bravely 
defended. 

Sunday, July 17, — the day assigned for the clos- 
ing scene of the campaign, — dawned auspiciously. 
At ten o'clock church call rang out. The chaplains 
led their regiments in divine w^orship and thanksgiv- 
ing for the cessation of hostilities. It was a memo- 
rable service, and as the strain "Praise God from 

346 




^X^^J 



The Closing Scene 

whom all blessings flow " rose through the trees from 
voices softened by the gratitude and emotion of men 
brought by the scenes of war to a nearer realization 
of mortality, the finite and the Infinite, many a sick 
American boy sobbed aloud, as his thoughts reverted 
to the distant homo where prayers were rising for the 
loved one in tho field. General Shafter, the gen- 







Facsimilk of Sigxattjres attached to the Articles of Capit- 
ulation BY THE SpAKISH AND AMERICAN COMMISSIONERS. 



erals of divisions and brigades, and their staffs, and 
an escort of cavalry rode beyond the lines at ten 
o'clock, to receive the capitulation of Santiago. 
War correspondents were refused permission to wit- 
ness the surrender, in language coarse if emphatic, 
though the reason for this suppression of one of the 
great chapters in American history seemed inexpli- 
cable. In striking unfairness, a favored few, my« 

347 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

self included, received permission to witness the 
ceremony. 

In the Canosa valley, below San Juan, the Ameri- 
can officers halted. A few moments later, General 
Toral and his staff, and an infantry brigade marched 
out from the city. Victor and vanquished shook 
hands. The duty of surrendering is only worse than 
receiving surrender, and the American officers by 
every courtesy strove to lessen the humiliation of the 
defeated foe. The Spanish bugles played a pitiful 
" retreat. " Our cavalry carried sabres ; the Spaniards 
presented arms, and then marched in column, de- 
positing their rifles in a heap. Several of the 
Spaniards were weeping bitter tears of mortification, 
and though for months I had joyously anticipated 
the end of their brutal sway in Cuba, now one could 
but feel pity for Toral and his staff, who at least had 
fought bravely for their country and had won 
respect. 

The generals rode into the city, but I recrossed 
the lines to borrow a camera, and was unable to again 
pass the guards. I was amply rewarded, however, 
for the distant view of the occupation of the city. 
As I rode out to the advanced outposts, the whole 
army moved up into line along our entire front. The 
midday chimes from the cathedral were wafted across 
the valley. The regiments sprang to attention. 
Every eye was fixed on a faint black line marked 
against the sky — the flagstaff* of the Governor's 
palace. Something fluttered up the pole : a thrill of 

348 



Old Glory over the City 

exultation dominated each heart, for "Old Glory" 
was waving over the city. Unmanly? Perhaps! 
But those who had endured the campaign are the 
better judges. At the sight of the flag great lumps 
rose in our throats. We strove to speak, but choked. 
Santiago suddenly seemed enveloped in mist, and 
strong men turned away and wept as children. 
Capron's battery was booming in salute, every band 
burst into the "Star-Spangled Banner;" and as the 
fourth gun reverberated in the hills, voices were 
regained, and from five miles of throats rose the 
beautiful refrain, — 

" The Star-Spangled Banner, oh, long may it wave, 
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave." 

Then three prolonged cheers of triumph ran down 
the lines, like a feu de joie, mingled with a hoarse 
shout from the Cubans, " Viva los Americanos ! " 

As the flag was raised, the general representing the 
dignity and honor of the American nation addressed 
Scovel in language so coarse and action so threaten- 
ing that he lost self-control, and struck the man, for- 
getting he was thus striking the rank of General of 
the United States Army. 

Knowing Santiago well, I was asked to go in 
with the Signal Corps. I finally received a joint 
permit with Armstrong, and we rode in at midday. 
We were politely received by the Spaniards, who 
were greatly relieved by the termination of the war, 
and whose condition was pitiable. A death-like 

349 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

stillness reigned throughout the city; the streets 
were deserted, and the houses closed, save where 
residences of Cubans had been sacked by the guerilla, 
or the walls smashed in by our shells. We rode 
along the outer edge of the city, where the streets 
were barricaded like Paris in Commune, the walls 
loopholed, trenches cut across the highways, and so 
formidable a line of defence formed that an assault 
on the city would have proved costly. Nine suc- 
ceeding rows of trenches must first have been cap- 
tured on the slope leading from San Juan, the 
terrible barricade of barbed wire, protected by the 
forts and blockhouses, surmounted, before the storm- 
ers could reach the city and its immediate defences. 
The place was practically impregnable from infantry 
attack. 

Close behind the trenches the Spanish dead had 
been hurriedly covered with earth, and the road to 
the city was strewn with dead horses, marking the 
cavalry retreat of the First. Above all rose an 
intolerable stench which seemed heightened by the 
vultures and wild curs we disturbed from gruesome 
feasting. Two field-guns were mounted directly 
before the hospital, covered by the Red Cross flag, 
and one gun had been run out and fired from an 
annex which gave excellent shelter for loading. The 
hospital itself was in a deplorable condition : the lawn 
beyond, covered with old dressings, excrement, and 
refuse of all kinds, must necessarily have proved a 
terrible plague spot. The cots were chiefly filled 

350 



In Santiago 

with sick, and by verified reports the Spanish loss in 
killed and wounded was very much less than ours, 
though much greater if the number of Americans 
needlessly sacrificed before San Juan be deducted 
from those lost in actual battle. The entire Spanish 
loss at San Juan, Caney, and the succeeding fighting 
before Santiago was: General Vara del Rey, one 
colonel, three comandantes, twelve subalterns, and 
ninety-eight men killed; General Linares, two 
colonels, six comandantes, thirty-nine subalterns, 
and three hundred and ninety-two men wounded; 
seven officers and one hundred and sixteen men 
missing or prisoners. 

Late in the afternoon a long line of emaciated non- 
combatants commenced to stream back to the city. 
Before they were settled in their homes the " State 
of Texas " had risked submarine defences and entered 
the harbor, and tons of supplies were soon being 
distributed by Miss Barton and her staff. But the 
exposures and privations at Caney had left their 
mark. For three weeks the death rate in Santiago 
averaged over a hundred per day, among less than 
thirty thousand people; and for three months the 
deaths were abnormally high. It is estimated that 
over three thousand people lost their lives through 
the humanity that allowed non-combatants to escape 
the puny bombardment which destroyed but a dozen 
houses. 

General McKibben was appointed Military Gover- 
nor. The 9th Infantry garrisoned the city. During 

351 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

a trying period the officers of this regiment showed 
great tact in dealing with the various factions. 
Colonel Ewers was afterwards promoted, and assumed 
charge at Guantanamo. He and his aide, Lieutenant 
Frazer, arranged for the passing of Spain, and won 
the gratitude of Cuban and Spaniard. 

The garrison of Santiago surrendered 14,892 
rifles, 1247 carbines, 84 revolvers, 267 sabres, 692 
machetes, and 4,652,200 cartridges. Of this ammu- 
nition one million rounds were for the Argentine 
Mauser, though the garrison had but 800 rifles of 
that pattern. 

After the city had fallen, our sick list increased 
enormously. Nostalgia, assured by tedious inaction 
following strenuous exertion, is invariably augmented 
by fever. Despite the exodus of invalids, shipped 
North on dirty transports supplied with hardtack, 
canned meat, and foul water, to become an object 
lesson to the American people of the effect of Cuban 
climate and official negligence, 4122 soldiers were 
on the sick list in Cuba on July 24. The generals 
held a conference, and signed a petition to the Secre- 
tary of War, urging that it was imperative that the 
army be moved North at once. General Shafter 
concurred in this; his army had not even cooking- 
utensils; and since no intelligent attempt was ap- 
parent from Washington to ship either suitable food 
or shelter to the stricken army, the officers plainly 
saw approaching extermination. The President 
promptly decided to move the army North, and dur- 

352 



The Army Withdraws 

ing the first two weeks in August, the regiments 
were moved to Montauk, Santiago being garrisoned 
by immune troops mobilized through the South. 

The army that had landed but seven weeks before, 
in the flush of health and strength, crawled back to 
the transports in regiments of gaunt spectres, to 
return to the country whose readiness and anxiety to 
do everything possible for its defenders had been 
negatived by the unfortunate ofiQcialdom and chaos in 
Washington. The horror and sadness of it — that 
Americans should have died for lack of medicine and 
food in a land adjoining their coasts, and within 
reach of a generous people willing for any sacrifice 
that the troops should have need of nothing! A 
glorious campaign, that attained stupendous results ? 
Yes. But inward history will prove that those results 
might have been attained with, practically, no 
sacrifice. 



23 353 



CHAPTER XV 

Santiago after Capitulation. — A Retrospect op '99. — 
Conclusion. 

Fifteen months have elapsed since the flag was 
hoisted over Santiago ; ten months ago Spain relin- 
quished her sovereignty over Cuba, and the Island 
passed under the military rule of the United States. 
After many weeks' delay, negotiations for peace be- 
tween the two nations ended satisfactorily ; the Span- 
ish army folded its tattered banners, and withdrew 
from the land that would soon have proved its grave. 
They left a desolate desert, a monument of ruin, 
despair, pestilence, and death, to the magnanimous 
victor morally pledged to stand sponsor to the Free 
Cuba that is to arise on the blood-soaked ashes of the 
Island. 

In this mundane age the heroes of Washington's 
day are apt to be forgotten, but the aspirations of 
1776 are dominating the war-worn Cubans of '99, 
and desire for betterment of this people, ragged and 
ignorant as some of them are, has been actuated by 
the influence and example of the great Republic at 
their doors. Only those who know the Cubans inti- 
mately, realize the price they have paid for liberty, 
and appreciate the misgivings they have to-day for 

354 



Reprehensible Misunderstandings 

the future. This mistrust is the direct result of a 
series of grave mistakes made by military rulers, the 
effect of which must retard the redevelopment of the 
Island, and the tranquillity and content so necessary 
for the well being of any country. 

After the inhabitants returned to Santiago, many 
families looked with joy for the reunion with dear 
ones, long absent in the field. But General Shafter, 
for no substantial reason, prohibited Cuban soldiers 
from entering the city that many of them had been 
born in. At the capitulation the Cubans were not 
represented, despite the aid they had gratuitous)}^ 
given. When the British saved Bekwai from 
Prempeh, the king furnished contingents to General 
Scott for scouting and transport. Every one of 
those savages was enrolled at once, and received 
regular pay and rations, and after due vrarning against 
looting, the king and his followers were given a 
place of honor in the ceremonies when Kumassi 
capitulated. By such tact England rules some mil- 
lions of savages just emerged from cannibalism, by a 
few companies of native soldiers and a score of white 
officers. She has learned by bitter experience that 
firm kindness is cheaper and more efficacious than a 
battery of Catlings. If Aguinaldo had been invited 
to enter Manila with his body-guard, and received 
due recognition for the fighting his men did in Luzon, 
he would have been in a reasonable frame of mixid to 
accept the inevitable. He could undoubtedly have 
aided in the formation of the liberal autonomy in- 

355 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

tended by the United States, and from personal 
knowledge of some of his adherents, I believe he 
would have proved a worthy ally rather than a 
relentless enemy, without diminution of American 
power or prestige in the Islands. 

The same lack of tact nearly proved costly in Cuba. 
" By the exclusion of our leaders and flag from to- 
day's ceremony we feel as the patriots under Wash- 
ington would have felt had the allied armies captured 
New York, and the French prohibited the entry of 
the Americans and their flag," remarked one Cuban. 
Garcia withdrew his forces and marched against 
Holguin, and the bitterness among the people in the 
city was increased by the arbitary orders of Shafter, 
and the conduct of the rough element of one or two 
regiments. Kissing women on the street may be 
harmless horse-play, and mere curiosity prompted the 
soldiers to enter private houses and roam around, but 
Latins do not understand these things. 

Senor Ros, the autonomist civil governor of Santi- 
ago Province, was asked to retain his position after 
American occupation. A moderate Cuban, for years 
a resident in America, trusted by all parties and 
factions, he was the one man likely to aid the United 
States in the reconstruction of eastern Cuba. His first 
act was to discharge from office some notorious Span- 
ish officials of the old regime. Perhaps he exceeded 
his authority : General Shafter thought so. Sending 
for the governor, Shafter, in the presence of a crowd, 

coarsely berated him as a presumptuous rascal. 

356 



Dangers of Unjust Criticism 

Mr. Eos, in quiet dignity, turned and tendered his 
resignation. Representative of the conservative ele- 
ment of the Cubans, the breach was serious, and only 
the withdrawal of Shafter and the appointment of 
General Wood averted disorder and a threatened 
rupture. 

The unjust attitude of a section of the American 
press caused dangerous irritation in Cuba. The 
action of a few negro desperadoes during the war 
were taken as texts for wholesale condemnation of 
the Cuban race. I well remember sitting in a Cuban 
camp one cool August night, talking with the officers, 
educated gentlemen to a man. A copy of the " Army 
and Navy Register " of July 23 was produced, and in 
English, which three-fourths of the officers there 
understood, a captain read : — 

" The insurgents felt, when Santiago capitulated, that 
they should be privileged to sack the city and gratify 
their lust for robbery, greed, and generally riotous liv- 
ing. They have been refractory since General Shafter 
refused them the consummate gratification of their 
dreams, the slaughter of the Spaniards and seizure of 
everything Spanish. . . . Pursuing a barbarous system 
of unholy indifference for the lives of those they cap- 
ture, inured to the worst sides of life," etc., etc., etc. 

At the close of the article no one spoke. Then 
one officer sprang to his feet, and in an impassioned 
harangue called all to swear to fulfil their oath, 
" Independence or Death," and face the latter before 

357 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

submittingf to American intolerance. " This is the 
official organ of their army," he went on ; '' this is 
American justice. Have we not two thousand Span- 
ish prisoners living in idleness at Cambote, while we 
are starving here ? Have we not punished by death 
all those who violated our commands to respect 
prisoners ? " 

Slights and insults General Garcia met calmly. 
" We did our best," he would say sadly, " and time 
will show that my ragged, hungry soldiers have 
endured with the resolute sincerity of the Americans 
of Saratoga or Yorktown." The past nine months 
have proved that the Cubans are magnanimous, and 
desire only the return to peaceful industry. After 
the continued cruelty of Spain, they have evinced no 
desire for reprisals, Spaniards have been respected as 
no Tory was respected during the Revolution, and 
the Cuban to-day stands ready to join the Spaniard 
in the building of a mutual country. AVhen Pinar del 
Rio and Sancti Spiritus surrendered, the insurgents 
took charge of the cities on behalf of Americans, 
and not one outrage or injustice Avas reported. 

General Wood soon perceived the danger and injus- 
tice of treating the Cubans as a conquered people. His 
kindly tact and firm discrimination then had a marked 
effect. Calling in the insurgent leaders, he asked for 
their co-operation. They were completely won over 
by his genuine Americanism; their men had soon 
stacked their arms, and showed their ability and desire 
to work, being employed at road-making and sanitary 

358 



Conditions during the Siege 

improvement. Deserving Cubans were placed in all 
public offices, schools were reopened, and in a few 
weeks the filthiest, most distracted corner of Cuba 
was as clean and orderly as an American city. The 
avidity of the younger element to attain the educa- 
tion so long debarred was surprising, and all the 
schools were soon filled to overflowing. By the latest 
report of General Wood, the regularity of attendance 
has been sustained, the Cuban officials have without 
exception proved satisfactory. Official dishonesty 
has disappeared, and the administration of the Eastern 
Department shows positive proof of the ability of 
the Cuban for self-government under the guidance of 
the United States. 

Through the blockade, and during the weary nego- 
tiations for peace, when anarchy reigned in Cuba, the 
residue of the reconcentrados and hundreds of the 
lower classes in the cities succumbed to privation. 
During the first seven months of '98 there were 
17,760 deaths in Havana, against 2224 births, from a 
population of little over 230,000. With such a death- 
rate the extinction of the Cuban race would soon 
have been assured. When the Evacuation Commis- 
sioners had completed their work, and the Army of 
Occupation was moved to western Cuba, the aspect 
grew more hopeful. General Blanco returned to 
Spain, Castellanos assumed command, and as the 
Spanish troops were mobilized in the large cities, the 
smaller towns, freed from restraint, invited the in- 
sm-gents to enter. Thus dozens of towns practically 

359 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

came under Cuban administration. At this time 
four-fifths of the people in the cities were starving. 

When the insurgents had disbanded, I reahzed, 
as never before, how the Cuban male population had 
disappeared during the war. To-day the Cubans are 
being criticised as a mongrel race. The best blood 
in the Island is soaked in the soil ; the backbone of 
the Island, the white farming class, has disappeared. 
Cuban women are nursing the offspring they have 
been forced to bear to their hated oppressors. Thou- 
sands of the people are so reduced that they can 
scarcely crawl. As the Spaniards withdrew, I trav- 
elled through the districts they evacuated. Space 
forbids the horrible details of the trip, which was cut 
short in Matanzas by an impromptu duel with a 
Spanish colonel. I was forced into this brawl by 
Carchano, courtmartialled by Blanco for flogging 
naked reconcentrados, and Escalante, and received a 
ball in the chest, which was extracted by a Spanish 
surgeon, who showed me much kindness. 

The military government in Cuba has accom- 
plished much during the past year : as far as the res- 
toration of Cuba is concerned, it has accomplished 
little. The return of the rebels to their homes was 
necessarily the first step toward regeneration. The 
Cuban Assembly, a body politic, elected by the army, 
and representing every division in the Island, sent 
envoys to Washington to ask for a loan guaranteed 
by Cuba's revenue. This commission was not re- 
ceived, and the Administration, overlooking the 

360 



The Assembly Ignored 

Assembly, sent Mr. Porter direct to Gomez, offering 
a loan of $3,000,000, provided the Cubans would give 
up their arms to the United States military authori- 
ties. Gomez accepted these conditions, forgetting 
that he held his commission only by appointment of 
the Assembly, who had sole control over the army. 

Incensed by the slights, resenting the demand that 
the patriot army surrender its arms to another power, 
the Assembly rejected the President's offer, and de- 
posed Gomez from command. The deadlock thus 
caused delayed the disbandment of the Cubans for 
many weeks ; the lack of security thus caused hin- 
dered important investments of capital, and was only 
removed by the diplomatic compromise of Capote, 
who arranged that Gomez should represent the As- 
sembly in the distribution of the loan, and the arms 
be stored honorably. 

After all these months the census, so vital for 
revised franchise and popular government, is not 
yet complete ; no organized effort has been made for 
the rehabilitation of the country, and the Cuban 
looks wonderingly for the freedom he so long has 
craved. With this indefinite policy of indecision 
and procrastination, capital for interior investment 
has been withheld, and redevelopment seriously 
retarded. 

It is difficult for a country to formulate its first 
colonial policy, and the experimental colonists are to 
be pitied, but procrastination cannot lessen the diffi- 
culties to be faced. The military government of 

361 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

Cuba should have ceased with the necessity for it. 
The appointment of ex-Cuban generals as provincial 
civil governors was wise ; but their power is nominal, 
and popular voice is dead. A civilian , as Mr. Hannis 
Taylor, placed at the head of affairs in Cuba, would 
have accomplished more in a month, with tact and 
discretion, than the military rule of Cuba will ever 
accomplish. The army officers have done splendid 
work, but it lias yet to be proved that a military 
training fits men for the reconstruction of a system of 
jurisprudence suitable for a Latin people, the admin- 
istration of the revenue, and intricate economic and 
financial problems and the adjustment of currency, 
to be faced in Cuba. 

But if political reconstruction has been slow, the 
vast improvement in sanitation accomplished by the 
army will prove of lasting benefit to Cuba. General 
Ludlow has carried out a crusade against disease and 
dirt in Havana, — undoubtedly the filthiest city in 
the world, — and the accumulated offal of ages has 
been removed from the towns and cities, and sanitary 
regulations enforced for the first time in history. 
The work of cleansing the capital was aided by the 
unfinished system of drainage and the splendid water- 
supply. The bulk of the houses, built in Moorish 
style, boasted a foetid cesspool under the centre 
courtyard, from which all rooms open. Numbers of 
these lacked connections with the main sewers, which 
emptied through open culverts into the harbor and 
sea. During the war many houses contained a fam- 

362 



Improvement of Sanitation 

ily in eacli room, with no sanitary appliances : the 
offal and refuse were thrown into the street beyond. 
Hundreds of tons of waste have now been destroyed, 
new sewer connections put in, and the worst quarters 
of the city demolished entirely. 

This cleansing has reduced the death-rate to regu- 
lar proportions, yellow fever during the past summer 
has been unprecedentedl}^ scarce, and when the pro- 
jected canal is cut, to flush out the vast cesspool, 
Havana harbor, the city, quaint and beautiful despite 
the dirt, will become a Mecca for winter tourists. 

Despite the abolition of the preferential tariff and 
the reduction of duty on necessaries, the Cuban Cus- 
tom House now shows an increase on the revenue 
paid in by Spanish officials after peculation. The ex- 
ports from Havana during the past eight months of 
American occupation were valued at $18,958,570. 
The United States took 113,423,417 of this, $5,535,153 
going to other countries. Of the above amounts 
$12,899,033 was merchandise, $530,374 gold coin. 
$875,040 in merchandise, and $1,803,429 in gold 
went to Spain. France took $973,960 in merchan- 
dise and $513,950 gold coin. This report is highly 
satisfactory, but the vast shipments of tobacco prac- 
tically cover the merchandise. The sugar industry 
will need much capital for revival and increase. Of 
the one hundred and fifty-nine sugar estates in cen- 
tral Cuba, but forty-one factories are operating. Fruit 
and coffee raising will prove fields for the foreign in- 
vestor, vast timber concessions are idle, but until roads 

363 



Under Three Flags in Cuba 

are improved little can be done save on the coast. 
Farming is at a standstill for the want of seeds and 
implements. The construction of the railroad from 
Santa Clara to Santiago Avill open up the richest dis- 
tricts in the Island, which as yet are untouched. 

Capital and labor are alike needed in the Island. 
Maso's project of inducing restricted immigration 
from the Canary Islands and northern Spain will 
solve the latter difficulty, if placed into effect. While 
American capital is cautious, English capitalists are 
obtaining options and making effective arrangements 
for aggressive investment. The commercial instinct 
and energy of the Spanish merchant will retain him 
the control of mercantile trade, as the gachupine of 
Mexico. But since transoceanic nativity no longer 
insures preferment, political and commercial, the 
united power of these men, so long Cuba's curse, will 
exist no longer. The notorious carpet-baggers have 
returned to Spain ; by the Paris treaty Spaniards re- 
siding in the Island are to have equal rights with 
Cubans for one year, after which they must proclaim 
their citizenship or become aliens. 

For the future one can say little. The United 
States is morally pledged to give the Cubans indepen- 
dence. To-day Cuban obedience is enforced by a 
power too strong to be resisted : enforcement creates 
resentment. That obedience will be willingly given 
to the acknowledged superiority of America, if the 
Cuban realizes that the betterment of his Island, not 
the selfish wishes of financiers and the greed of car- 

364 



. Annexation 

pet-baggers, is concerned therein. Forcible annexa- 
tion the Cuban will not hear of ; it will precipitate 
insurrection. But tactful administration to-day, sus- 
tained by Cuban officials elected by the people, will 
assuredly foster the desire of the people to become an 
integral portion of the United States. The Cubans 
desire the right to live, and a voice in shaping their 
destiny. The revival of industry is so slow that the 
Cuban fails as yet to appreciate altered conditions, 
and he knows nothing of his political future. 

Time will work all these things, but revival of in- 
dustry cannot come until the future policy of the 
Government is definitely settled. The intelligent 
Islander to-day desires independence under Ameri- 
can protection, and realizes ultimate annexation in- 
evitable. Annexation by force he will resent ; with 
Cuban institutions founded, and the Island pro- 
nounced free and independent, he will desire the 
closest ties with the United States, if not admis- 
sion in some form to the Union. 



THE END 



365 



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